Backwards
by Sensational Sista
Summary: College/AU. There's an unusual perspective in rowing: To move forward, you have to move backwards. As Anna joins Arendelle University's rowing team and forges an unlikely friendship with the elusive blonde Senior, she realizes her own perspective of life and love is about to be turned around. Elsanna.
1. Intro

**Backwards**

**Chapter 1**

_Rowing is a sport for Dreamers. As long as you put in the work, you can own the dream. When the work stops, the dream disappears. - Unknown_

The redhead stood against the fence, overlooking the expansive fjord. The rising sun sent pinks and oranges dancing across the sky, reflecting against crystal waves. The channel went on for miles and miles, the water stretching as far as the eye could see. She absolutely could not wait to explore this new water with the college team; to ride on it, to listen to the lap of each splash against the sides of her boat. As teal eyes fluttered shut, she imagined the soothing tune of oars rotating in their locks, as blades dug into the water, propelling the boat with unseen force. The fjord's air was crisp, misty spray reaching her nose as her sparkling eyes opened once more.

She felt herself smile as a light breeze tickled her bangs. Even at sunrise, this day was marvelous. Today she was finally was starting at university. And she could not have asked for better, late August weather.

"Anna!" She turned her head at the call of her name. "How did I know I'd find you looking at the water?"

She smiled seeing the familiar approaching figure. As the beaming blonde appeared at her side, leaning one hand against the fence post, Anna laughed. "Touched up your roots for the first day, eh Punzie?"

The slightly taller girl shook her long, long, _long_ (currently bleach blonde) ponytail and stuck out her tongue. "Har har, Pippy long-stockings." She lightly poked Anna's characteristic braids. "I just wanted to look my best when strutting around our new home."

Anna felt her eyes roll. "_'Strutting around'_. Yeah, okay." She picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. "And my braids are awesome. Don't be jealous." She stuck her tongue out at her best friend.

Rapunzel grabbed Anna's bicep and tugged her away from the fjord overlook. Anna let out a reluctant laugh and quickly caught up to the rower's swift pace. Her view was now focused on the sidewalk leading toward some ivy covered, brick buildings.

Although the university's boathouse was about a 2 mile trek away, they were so fortunate to have the residential campus overlooking the water. Having already unpacked her belongings the night before, Anna knew she had a perfect view of the river to wake up to everyday.

"Too bad we weren't able to get the same floor," Rapunzel said as they passed by their building: Western Hall. Some students were coming in and out of the dorms, still moving in and saying good-bye to their parents and families.

Anna nodded in agreement but then pouted. "I'm jealous you don't have to climb up 4 flights of stairs every day." Rapunzel smirked triumphantly, as if it were an honor to live on the first floor. Whatever.

As the two continued to walk across the residential green, they took in the sights of the rising sun against the tall trees speckling the center of the residential quad. Rays of light shimmered down onto lush green grass, enhancing the colors. Colorful red and yellow tulips still lined the pathways here and there. It was definitely a well kept place.

Anna smiled and took a deep breath of the fresh air. Every time Anna took a tour to the University, which had been numerous times starting way back in 9th grade, she fell in love more and more with its beautiful land, beautiful river and rustic cityscape. She was going to attend school here no matter what, she had decided. Academics aside, it was hands down the location that truly won her over.

Wait. About that academic part. A thought struck her. She turned to the tall, green eyed girl.

"Did you get the class schedule email last night?" She was already digging through her draw-string backpack to pull out her printed sheet. "The one our advisors sent?"

The golden blonde laughed, pulling out her phone. "Yup. And I will check it on my 21st century phone because I do not have a relic dating back to the Stone Age." Anna rolled her eyes at the facetious tone. Yes, her phone was indeed a relic by modern day standards. Basically, it just meant it was not a touch screen with internet access. As if she needed a Smartphone. (Not like she could afford one anyways, but that was beside the point.)

"Whatever," she grumbled pulling out her crumpled printout. She leaned over the other girl's shoulder to peek at her phone. "So Monday…"

"I have that bullshit _Freshman Year Experience_ class in the morning."

"Ditto. Do you have the _Intro to Professional Writing_ right after that too?"

Rapunzel nodded. "Looks like we will be suffering through the generic freshmen classes together." Both smiled ruefully as Rapunzel continued. "Ew. They're Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!"

"Okay okay. Let's stop dwelling." Anna moved on to the next day. "Tuesday's and Thursday's I have _General Nutrition_ from 11am-12:30pm and _Abnormal Psych_ til 2.."

"Hold up. How did you get out of _Intro Psych_?" Rapunzel frowned, noticing her _Intro Psych_ course was Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

Anna smirked. "Advanced Placement credits. I passed out of the intro level. Told you ya should have taken the AP exam!"

Two emerald eyes rolled. "Whatever… Aw man. I have my _Intro to Drawing _Thursday night 6pm-9:30pm… Yuck!"

Anna gave a crooked smile to her friend. "You knew when applying as a Studio Art major that art courses are long and usually at night." Anna was one of only 3 Seniors in her graduating class who had applied to college as an Undecided major. She was actually happier not having to feel the stress of specific courses just yet, regardless of what her Guidance Counselor had recommended. She gave another thought looking at her paper. "Don't worry, I have a night class too. Thursday 6pm-9pm. _Polish 101_"

Rapunzel raised an eyebrow at the Language course choice. "Well that was certainly a random pick."

"I would have taken Finnish if they offered it since my grandfather spoke it. But Polish shouldn't be too much different." She shrugged. "You sticking with French for your language mode?"

The blonde cocked a brow. "Um duh. I did not spend 4 years of high school in that language for it to go to waste." She paused. "_French 225_. Wednesday afternoons." There was a pause. She looked thoughtful, bringing her eyes to Anna's. "When's your meeting with the crew coach?"

With a jolt Anna looked at her watch. Her racing heart slowed upon reading the hour. Arm slumping to her side, she glared at the grinning teen beside her. "Don't scare me like that. You know how hard it is for me to be on time! I still have 5 hours."

With a grin, Rapunzel stuck her phone in her back pocket and grabbed Anna's hand. "In that case, let's go scope out the campus!" Anna was well aware that Rapunzel's definition of 'scoping the campus' was not to see the sight but to see the students. Typically students of the male variety. "I think there are some Junior boys chilling just waiting to meet us." Bingo. Anna did not have to see the rower's face to know she winked.

Well socializing was a good start. Unlike the bubbly blonde, Anna had always struggled making friends in high school. Regardless of her equally bubbly personality, she was just not as socially competent as her blonde best friend. Being a part of the Oslo High School crew team didn't help much either. She mostly only hung out with her teammates. But this was college level. Things were going to be different.

Anna blinked, coming back to the present and realizing the group of boys was growing nearer to her. She bit her lip. This could be good. Plus, she had plenty of time before her meeting for once. This was shaping up to be a great college experience already.

New day.

New school.

New Anna.

* * *

_Crap crap crap crap! I'm late!_

Somewhere between meeting some really cool upperclassmen, exploring the library and art studios, walking to a few shops in town, and checking out the Dining Hall's "all you can eat" dessert table Anna had just lost track of time.

The large doors to the college Athletics Center squeaked as the redhead pushed them open with great force. They were surprisingly heavy, causing her to let out a grunt when she recoiled slightly. The two students managing the entrance desk tossed her strange looks as she sheepishly stumbled in.

She ran up and straight through the front sensors just beyond the desk, setting off a beeping alarm. She turned around with a confused look and saw the scowls coming from the front desk workers.

"You need to tap your ID when you enter," one said with a roll of his eyes. Anna blushed and walked back through the sensor, setting it off again.

"Oops!" she squeaked, scrunching her shoulders up, digging around in her bag for her newly acquired ID. She yanked it out, sending it flying over the sensors. She rushed to get it, setting the ringing off again. "Sorry! Sorry!"

"Ugh, oh just go," the annoyed student workers said in unison, shooing her off.

She blushed and hurried off down the vaguely familiar hallway. She followed the purple walls, decorated with gold trim. The last time she was here was to meet with the coaches the past spring as a possible recruit. Now she was here again to talk with the burly coach as an official Arendelle University student. Hopefully she could still make a good impression! Not like he had a choice. He was going to have to love all that Anna had to offer.

She huffed slightly as she approached the dark brown door at the farthest end of the hall. The gold plated name was still screwed in at the center of the wood: Coach Oaken.

The door was slightly ajar, and it sounded like there were voices coming from inside. Anna looked down at her watch. 2:44pm. She was almost 15 minutes late for her meeting as it was. She stepped up to the door to try to hear where the conversation was at. She wasn't really one to enjoy waiting. And she had spied some soft couches in the front lobby that she'd much rather wait on.

With a rush of air, the door swung open and Anna didn't even have a chance to dodge a shoulder colliding heavily with her own. Her teal eyes blinked in surprise at the force, knocking her sideways. She stepped awkwardly, righting herself at the last second. She took a brief moment to spin around.

There, Anna caught a glimpse of platinum blonde hair, whipping past her in a heavy braid. Said braid was attached to the angrily retreating form of a woman. _Geeze._ _Someone's letting a storm rage on._ Anna thought in annoyance, lifting her hand to rub where her shoulder was hit. She bit back a comment as she heard the booming voice of her coach. She turned back toward the door and craned her neck to stare up to the massive man.

"Yoo hoo! Anna!" His heavy Norwegian accent was ever present, just as she remembered. "Come in and sit, ya?"

The redhead smiled, happy to push that annoying interaction to the back of her mind, and took a seat in the chair beside the man's desk. She opened her drawstring bag and shuffled around for a packet of papers that were due, as well as the number one reason for their meeting. Grabbing the slightly crumpled documents, she handed them to the crew coach.

He grinned. "Great. All the physical documentation and signatures set. You are all set to be a part of the Arendelle University crew team!" He smiled. "How's it feel?"

Anna laughed. "Awesome! I'm just so excited about it all, especially rowing on this river. It goes on for miles!" Her arms flung out wide to emphasize her point, somehow conveying a measure of distance within her palms.

He then handed her a silver whistle. "Last whistle going to my last coxswain."

"Thanks, coach." Anna beamed at the official welcome, taking the trinket in her hand. She inspected the metal. Engraved was the Arendelle crest: a blossoming crocus flower. She quickly hung the purple and gold lanyard over her head and let it dangle at her neck. She almost couldn't wait to use the whistle. It was only for dry-land work outs with the team, not for use in the boat of course. But still, she felt so official.

"Now I've already discussed with you last spring that you will be part of our varsity team. Remember we meet every morning on the river. Not like Coach Weselton's Novice team who rows in the afternoon." Anna nodded at the discussion they had had the previous spring. The novice team was for all the new rowers and coxswains who did not have any prior experience with the sport. Anna had spent her entire high school career in a boat, so she was well experienced and prepared to go right to the varsity. However, this concept of anything remotely involving '_mornings_' did not exactly make her jump for joy.

The large man stroked his spongy beard. "Now Anna. I still want you to come to the mandatory morning practice for all freshmen after Orientation Day. It's a general crew orientation to welcome you all. Introduce the indoor rowing equipment, talk about mechanics of the sport. Sound good, ya?"

With a nod, Anna agreed. "Sounds good coach." She twiddled the whistle between her fingers and she pulled her bag back over her shoulders.

Her coach laughed. "Don't go abusing that whistle's power now." He sent a wink to which Anna gave a salute.

"Cross my heart, sir!"

* * *

_FWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!_

"Ow Anna, quit it!" yelled Rapunzel and Kristoff as they covered their ears from the piercing whistle shriek.

The trio was sitting in Anna's dorm room that evening. They were all catching up on life, Kristoff explaining the dynamics of the college team compared to Oslo High's own team, and the two girls explaining all the drama that went down their Senior year without him. But In the middle of the conversation, Anna couldn't contain her eagerness to try out the shiny new toy any longer.

"Sorry, not sorry." She stuck out her tongue and fell back into the wall when Kristoff tried to swipe the annoying object away. Anna stuffed the whistle down her bra. Kristoff rolled his brown eyes.

"Please, I won't hesitate to go after it."

Rapunzel and Anna just laughed. Green eyes bounced between her friends. "I'm so glad we are all back together again. Dream team!"

Kristoff was a Sophomore at the university this year. But back in high school, the three were inseparable. Anna and Rupunzel met in 2nd grade, and Kristoff joined their friendship in Jr. High School during an awkward 7th vs. 8th grade game of Ultimate Frisbee. From that day on, Anna had vowed never to play again, or else risk getting tackled by massive, clumsy blonde boys when diving for Frisbees. After a walk to the nurse and a concussion check, she and Kristoff hit it off. And come high school, they were all rowing on the Oslo High varsity team.

Kristoff leaving Oslo, traveling the 6 hour drive to Arendelle, had been hard on Anna. Of course she had Rapunzel, but her bond with Kristoff was somewhat different. He wasn't as popular as the blonde girl, and he was ten times geekier. He almost understood Anna at a different level, though she'd never admit it to Rapunzel. But they made it work, Skype dates frequently, lots of texting, though even those died down when midterms and finals came around. But that didn't matter anymore. Now they were back. All on one team again and ready to rock the boat, well, so to speak.

There was a buzz from the bed near Rapunzel's bent knee. Rapunzel tapped her phone and rolled her eyes, flipping the phone over to ignore whatever message she received. She let out an exasperated groan and scowled. Anna gave her a sympathetic look while Kristoff stared confused, awaiting a clarification. "It's Patrick," Rapunzel finally groaned.

He gave a scowl, similar to Rapunzel's own. "What's up with Pat-dick?" Anna snickered while the blonde girl huffed at him. "Please say you've finally ended that shit."

Rapunzel and Patrick had dated for two years, and were on the rocks for at least 22 out of those 24 months. Needless to say, Anna and Kristoff hated the guy. For countless reasons. Hell. He was the reason Rapunzel grew out her hair and started bleaching it blonde. Something along the lines of 'not being into brunettes'. Sure they'd tell her quite often how they felt about the relationship. Yet they could only make comments and pray it didn't fall on deaf ears. It was up to Rapunzel to handle her own life.

The blonde girl nodded. "Yeah, I ended it about a week ago." Kristoff grinned and let out a praise of Hallelujah.

"But now the tool won't stop bothering her about starting over and all that jazz," Anna filled in as well. The blonde man crossed his arms and raised a brow.

"Total tool. Glad you finally saw it, though." Kristoff never hesitated to put in his two cents about his lady-friends' boyfriends. He couldn't help it though. He was like a protective older brother to both of them. And he had a natural, strikingly accurate judge of character, which was weird since he spent such little time around people. He was a self-proclaimed 'love expert', which was debatable. However, Anna also experienced his judgment firsthand. He was ecstatic when she told him she'd ended it with her high school sweetheart. He had been right. Derek was an ass.

"Well I'm off to bigger and better things." Anna looked at the determined blonde girl and felt her cheeks warm. She was so happy to see Rapunzel finally displaying that old self-confidence again. Patrick had brought her down, but no more of that. Dream team was back, and in fact, they were all set for bigger and better things.

"So movie choices, ladies?" Kristoff asked as a change of topic, already pulling up Netflix on his laptop. They all eagerly skimmed the comedy genre and, after a round of votes and some bickering, they decided on their first official college movie together.

Anna pulled a pillow back underneath her head against her headboard as Kristoff set up his adapter, hooking the laptop up to Anna's dinky sized TV. She let her eyes dance between the two talking blondes who she was lucky enough to call her best friends. The two rowers dropped into place on the bed as the opening credits of '_She's the Man_' came on. It was painfully obvious who was outvoted on the movie choice, especially as Kristoff began his typical movie commentary and Rapunzel berated his comments. Anna felt her lips pull into a grin.

Sure. She may not have mastered being on time quite yet, but so far everything was shaping up to be an exciting year.

As her friends bickered some more, Anna turned her gaze out her window.

The setting sun sent a brilliant orange glow across the fjord, the giant mountains leaving parts of the river covered in deep, purple shadows. But the water sparkled in magnificent wonder, sunlight reflecting like embers in the dark wakes. Anna's eyes squinted, seeing a shadow moving atop the waves. A singular rower, a woman, and her Single glided effortlessly through the glass-like water in the distance. The light hit her perfectly, creating a halo of gold around her head as she performed a graceful dance between the dusky sky and glistening water. It made a quote flitter through Anna's mind.

"_The Single sculler, alone on the river, or spotlighted in her lane during a race, is the most romantic, the most quixotic figure in all rowing."_

Anna's eyes grew heavy as she watched the serene scene. She could not fight the whimsical smile that grew across her lips.

- **End Chapter 1**-

**A.N. Intro chapters are so hard, so thanks for bearing with it! **

**This is my first Elsanna. I went with a sport that I don't usually see in fanfics.. Next chapter covers some of the mechanics/terms used in rowing too, since some of the lingo may be different than what readers are used to. **

**It's almost summer, so hopefully updates will speed up come May. Thanks for reading :)**


	2. Welcome to AU crew

**Chapter 2**

Anna groaned, rubbing her eyes as Rapunzel all but hauled her sleepy form down the stairs to the athletic center's basement level. She was not a morning person_.. at all_. 10am was what she considered morning. High school crew was always an afternoon practice. This whole 6:30am thing was not going to be a fun change, that's for sure. She grunted while stumbling into the basement of the building.

The freshman had all piled into the lobby outside the Athletic Center's tank room. It looked like there were about 20 or so. The majority were novice, Anna and Rapunzel seeming to be the only experienced ones. Anna looked around, not recognizing many faces yet. A few of the student's had been in her orientation group yesterday, but she was horrible at remembering names. Scumbag brain.

"Hi!" The two teens tossed their gazes toward some lobby sofas off to the side. Their eyes fell on a tiny boy waving with great exuberance from his seated position. "Hi!"

Exchanging side glances, both girls giggled and nodded to each other. They made their way over to the boy, who was so obviously a coxswain (any say otherwise would be unheard of) and sat down beside him. His dark eyes sparkled with excitement at meeting new friendly faces. Anna noted how his pale skin contrasted greatly against the wispy, black hair that spilled onto his forehead. He seemed to melt beneath his oversized sweatshirt.

"Hi," Anna said with a smile. "My name's Anna." Before she could say any more, his thin arms wrapped around her.

"I'm Olaf! And I like warm hugs!" Her teal eyes widened with surprise and then she felt another pair of arms latch on and a view of golden hair flopping around them.

"I'm Rapunzel and I like warm hugs too!"

The group laughed together, already enjoying each other's company.

"Are you two walk-ons?" he asked as they pulled out of the embrace.

Rapunzel shook her head, proudly pointing a thumb to her chest. "Nope. We've got 4 years of rower and coxswain experience under our belts."

The boy nodded at the information, explaining he was coming from the same background. His name was Olaf Snewman and he was, indeed, a coxswain. Anna couldn't even believe this kid was a Freshman. Maybe it was his wispy hair? Or his two buck teeth? He actually looked like an innocent high school freshman. Like 14 years old tops. He struck the fountain of youth. Yup. Only logical answer. Apparently his older brother was a Senior on the varsity team too. Anna smiled as the bubbly, bucktoothed boy went on about how wonderful the summer had been that year. Whatever it was, Anna felt an immediate connection with the young man.

They continued to chat amongst themselves before they saw the burley varsity coach come into the room a couple minutes later. He easily commanded the group's attention. A tiny old man slinked in behind him, completely occluded by Coach Oaken's massive body. He was a weasel-y old man with a terribly obvious toupee. Anna presumed that was Coach Weselton, the novice coach.

"Yoo hoo. Hi crew family!" said the larger coach with a gleeful voice. A couple of students waved, others greeted him quietly, and some even offered a 'yoo hoo' back. "Welcome to your very first practice as part of Arendelle University's rowing team. We will start today with some introductions." He held a hand to his chest. "I am Coach Oaken. I'm the varsity coach. I have been coaching for the Arendelle Reindeer for 21 years now. And I am well aware that this is probably longer than some of you have been alive." He winked and a soft chuckling erupted in the massive group of seated freshman.

After the laughs died down, Coach Oaken handed the introduction over to the tiny weasel-y man.

"I am Duke Weselton, but you will call me Coach Weselton," he said in a craggily old voice. He said something regarding emailing the novice about practice times yada yada yada, and then bowed his head upon finishing. This of course sent his totally real looking toupee peeling over his head. Anna had to bite her lip and elbow Rupunzel hard to stifle their laughter. It was kind of marvelous that absolutely no one let out a peep.

Coach Oaken thanked the man and stepped up again. "We have a few of our upperclassmen here to assist with learning how to erg and row in our indoor tanks." That was a nice plan. Learning how to use an Ergometer could be a pain in the ass.. literally. However, it was unavoidable for rowers because it's the only quantitative means to get their official speed time.

Coach Oaken stepped aside and three boys and a girl stood up from some other lobby chairs. And boy were they tall! He introduced each of them. They all gave little signifying waves and gave a brief synopsis of themselves.

First was a Senior studying Architecture. Marshall. He was a massive, 6'5" Port-side rower. Pale skin with spiked, jet black hair. He was bulky. Muscled. He didn't actually speak, leaving Coach to introduce him, but Anna could only imagine he had a gravely deep type of voice. She felt Olaf nudge her arm and whispered that Marshall was his brother. It took her a long moment of staring to connect the relationship before she finally shrugged and accepted the brothers' obvious differences.

Next up was the dark haired girl. Another Senior, studying Kinesthesiology. She was one of the Captains, rowing Port-side. Her name was Mulan. She was wearing her Arendelle University crew sweatshirt, yet Anna could practically see the outline of her strong arms. No one need question if she was an open weight rower.

Then there was a Junior, studying Finance with a minor in History. He was the other Captain, rowing Starboard. Coach Oaken was about to call him something, but he instantly interrupted. He called himself 'Flynn'. He was a lean man, and offered a charming grin toward all the underclassmen. Anna could guess that the grin was more for the ladies in the crowd. A couple did swoon. Her eyes darted sideways at Rapunzel, who had her arms crossed and looked simply unimpressed by his actions.

Finally there was their dear best guy friend, Kristoff. She listened to his introduction and quietly giggled to herself at how blatant his description of himself was. "Sophomore. Art. Port." She frowned when he didn't offer any elaboration of his Art degree focusing on sculpture, like wood and ice sculptures! But alas, he was never a very articulate man in social situations.

Coach Oaken then followed by explaining key concepts for the sport of rowing. He explained the boat sizes: Singles rowed by one person, Doubles & Pairs rowed with two people, Quads & Fours rowed with 4 people, and Octos & Eights rowed with eight people. He pointed out the differences between sculling (where a rower has a smaller oar in each hand) and sweep rowing (a rower has 1 large oar and is responsible for rowing one side: Port or Starboard).

He spent most time talking about Sweep since that was what Arendelle raced most at the collegiate level. Since there was always an even number of rowers in a boat, there was always a Port & Starboard pair seated together. He explained how every time they are called to row or sit-out that they do it with their seated pair.

He did a quick overview of what the coxswains are responsible for, which was steering the Sweep boats, giving commands, and keeping everything and everyone organized and in check. Any scuffs on the boat, dinged skegs, or missing screws and bolts were on them. They have sole responsibility for their boat and rowers every time they are on the water. No pressure, right?

Anna was relieved when he finally said they were done reviewing the general things and that they'd go over more specific commands later when the novice practice erging for the first time. She knew the freshmen were going to absolutely loathe-oops- _love_ erging!

"Next on our agenda is to watch a few short video clips to show you exactly what we do, ya?" Coach Oaken smiled as he hooked up his laptop to the large overhanging TV. He gathered all the Sprint Season clips from races on YouTube. The Sprint Season races were 2kilometers (called 2k's) and were arguably the most important races. His video choices ranged from Nationals to Olympics, demonstrating the different types of rowing. "We are actually very lucky to have many Alumni rowing on these teams."

There were some 'ooo's from the group as the coach pointed to the coxswain in the Olympic Women's Open-Weight Eight race. "That's Merida. My spunky little Scottish cox who graduated 8 years ago. Next summer, she is hopeful to compete in her 3rd Olympics with the Women's Eight." He smiled fondly at the red-haired girl on screen, like a father watching his child succeed. "Spoiler alert: Her boat's taken 1st place the last two Olympics." He winked.

Anna stared in Awe. She felt like she was standing in the shadows of something big now. She hadn't realized Merida went to Arendelle University too!

Coach Oaken continued pointing out Alumni rowers, each one receiving that fond smile from him. There was a tan girl with white hair, riddled in tattoos who went by Kida. She was in the Olympic Pair from 8 years back. Another rower was Kocoum; sleek black hair, dark skinned, also displaying intense tattoos. The aerial cameras swooped low to get a close-up of his boat. Was that a paw print on his shoulder?

Anna was on the edge of her seat watching each video with growing interest. Of course she'd been following rowing over the past two summer Olympics, but she felt oddly closer now than she ever had before.

He then clicked across some more. These were of his National team competitors. Anna didn't follow the National races as religiously as she did the Olympics. But again, crew Alumni had made it to that level as well. He pointed to some who Anna was not as familiar with but just as intently watched their form and performance. Flawless!

Oaken clicked his mouse and the next video started loading. The aerial cameras scanned the rowers at the start of the Singles race. On one of the center rowers, Coach Oaken pointed. "There's Belle Beauty who graduated 2 years ago. She was one of the strongest rowers to ever grace Arendelle's waters." Anna blinked, hazily recognizing the name. She must have read about this rower before or something. The brunette, sitting ready at the starting line, sculling oars gripped, most definitely lived up to her name_. Beauty and Brawn.._She chuckled to herself at her joke.

They only watched the start of Belle's Singles race, yet after, Anna felt so pumped. So pumped that she actually volunteered to erg instead make coxswain calls during the following freshman practice. She bounded into the team's tank room, filled with two water tanks with practice oars and filled to the brim with 50, state of the art Ergometer machines.

With a hop skip and a jump, Anna plopped down on an erg in the front row, strapping her feet into the foot-stretchers, grabbing the handle bar in both hands and pressing back into a steady state row.

"Erging can suck my dick," a sweaty Rapunzel growled, dragging herself out of the Athletic's Center behind an equally sweaty Anna and giddy Olaf. The redhead was used to the crass vocabulary dropped from the opposite teenager, but apparently most onlookers don't expect it from the delicate looking blonde. She giggled as some of the other novice freshmen raised their eyebrows at her.

"Quite the sailor's mouth for a dainty rower," came a chuckling male voice behind them. Both girls turned to see Kristoff walking alongside with the Junior Captain. Flynn or something? He had on that smug smirk, just like when he introduced himself earlier, looking directly at the long haired blonde.

Rapunzel cocked her head in a challenging manner, spinning in her steps and walking backwards. "You can suck it too pretty boy."

"Cheeyeah not into that," he said coolly, taking some extra long strides, putting himself between Anna and her best girlfriend. He stuck out his hand. "I don't think we've officially met. Hi. Flynn Ryder." He raised his brow in flirty manner, grinning broadly.

Anna wished she had a photo of Rapunzel's expression. The angry blush on Rapunzel's puffed cheeks dissipated the moment the base of her hand slammed against Flynn's forehead. He stumbled back with a gruff wail, Kristoff grabbing him by the shirt collar at the last second. Anna burst out laughing following pace with a smirking blonde girl. "How's that for dainty?" Flynn merely groaned at the unexpected pain.

"Bigger and better things?" Anna giggled as Rapunzel huffed between the two of them.

"Breakfast. Now."

How could Anna argue with that?

After breakfast, since classes began tomorrow, the trio found themselves, once again, lounging in Anna's dorm room. She was originally supposed to have a roommate, but the person withdrew from the university on move-in day. So until the Residential staff sticks a transfer student into her company, her room was totally the perfect chill out place.

Kristoff was lying on the empty mattress across the room, flipping through one of Anna's many old rowing magazines. He laughed. "I like how you saved the ESPN magazine from 2000 and tabbed the page for the one rowing quote. It's like a text book."

"Did you really?" Rapunzel asked with a laugh. She tossed a stuffed duck at the redhead. "Dweeb."

"Hey! It's one of my favorite racing quotes," she stated as mater-of-fact. "Read it."

Kristoff cleared his throat and began reading, Anna silently reciting the quote by heart:

_"The athlete's anerobic threshold, the point at which the body's muscles have exhausted their oxygen store and start burning other fuel. For regular folks, reaching that threshold is quitting time; anaerobic work is 19 times harder than aerobic work. But rowing is all about harder. Elite rowers fire off the start at sprint speed - 53 strokes per minute. With 95 pounds of force on the blade end, each stroke is a weightlifter's power clean. Rowers cross their anaerobic threshold with that first stroke. Then there are 225 more to the finish line." _

Anna crossed her arms in silence, waiting for appraisal of the quote.

"Why didn't you just cut it out and stick it on a note board?" Rapunzel asked with scrutinizing look.

Anna opened her mouth to respond, but Kristoff interjected. "Gals, instead of just sitting around and reading about rowing stuff, who wants to actually go take a tour of our boathouse?"

Two female squeals filled the dorm room as the girls threw down their magazines and scrambled for their sneakers. They bounded to the door and stood waiting for Kristoff to come along. He could only describe it like looking at two puppies ready for a walk. They flew down the 4 flights of stairs and began their 2 mile march to the boathouse.

"Flynn's actually a cool guy." Kristoff smiled to his friend while the group walked along the sidewalks of Arendelle, following the path that would take them down to the river side. They had been walking for about 30 minutes and were approaching their destination.

Rapunzel laughed. "Well cool guy or not, he's still an obvious man-whore." At that Kristoff only paused and then shrugged his shoulders.

"Can't argue there."

"See? Anna and I are done with dating doofuses like that. Right, Anna?" The two blondes turned toward their silent redheaded friend. Both gave each other knowing glances.

She was walking, actually more like strolling, hands clasped behind her back. Her head was turned out to the glimmering water. The morning air was fresh, already warmed by the sun as the September chill had yet to set in. Anna's eyes were heavy and dreamlike as she watched the water, the busy sound of Arendelle dissipating the farther out they traveled. She looked so at peace. Her friends refused to ruin it and continued their own conversation until they reached the boathouse.

"Welcome to Casa de la Arendelle Crew!" Kristoff said, arms outstretched. Anna laughed. Surely Kristoff had been asleep through his last 2 semesters of Spanish. Her eyes followed the large man as he began pointing out this and that, adding commentary to each thing. Anna let her eyes sweep the vicinity.

The 2 story boathouse was old looking and wooden, with a massive plaque in the front with the University's name and crest on it. There were main doors too, it appeared, but Kristoff led them off to the side of the building down a dirt path. She spotted a bike rack. Thank goodness for that. She didn't want to have to walk that trip every morning. She saw a tall boat rack, covered in massive 8's too. Her eyes lazily trailed after Kristoff's form.

He had gone down to the river's edge where the wooden dock began and hopped on to it. The girls followed suit and took in the dock space. Their eyes widened at the size.

Kristoff went on about the boathouse, its history and blah blah blah. All things Anna figured she'd find out in time. She was more impressed by the sheer size of the place. It was at least double the size of her High School's boathouse. Connected by a wooden porch were 4 stocked bays tucked into the boathouse, each with its own ramp leading onto the dock space.

They only spent a little while there, not supposed to be on the docks without a coach present. Kristoff was also eager to go explore some of the actual city with them. So the two blondes turned and began heading off the dock, back up the little dirt path alongside the boathouse.

Anna waited a moment, to take in everything a little longer. The morning sun warmed her t-shirt clad shoulders and the river's mist tickled at her ankles. Then something caught her eye. A form was approaching on the water, lined up and looking ready to dock. They rower in the boat had her back to Anna as she came along the floating wooden planks.

She stared as the light blue Single gently glided effortlessly into the far end of the docks. _Perfect parking, _she thought to herself, amused. Anna considered docking a lot like parallel parking, minus the back-and-forth.

As the rower moved down the dock, Anna got a closer look. Absolutely nothing contained a hint of Arendelle's colors. The oar blades were white, only a bit whiter than her platinum hair falling down her back in a… _braid_. Who was she? Why did Anna get a sense of familiarity?

The rower put her hand out to stop her boat, steadying it in place, and put a foot out to stand up. As she turned, placing hands on the tops of her hips to stretch, she noticed her audience. She shot a look toward the gawking redhead.

She was still far down at the other end of the dock, but Anna got a sense that this rower wasn't exactly pleased to see her. Then she remembered she wasn't even supposed to be there. Not wanting to get in trouble, she did her best to act casual to remove herself from the situation.

Anna turned and bolted off the docks faster than lightening and with the grace of a baby deer. She stumbled up the path to find her friends. It was only when she caught up to them passing through the tiny parking lot that a thought struck her.

_That was the woman who slammed my shoulder the other day!_ Anna mused, leaving the vicinity. _Why does she always look ready to pierce someone with ice?_

**- End Chapter 2-**

**A.N. And now that the background and mechanics have been set… can finally move on to the more direct Elsanna. Whoot! And next chapter Elsa will finally get a speaking role in the story. Promise!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. First Impressions

**Chapter 3**

_I cannot believe I am going to be late on my very first day. Good going Anna._

Anna's mind berated her as she all but slammed her bike into the packed bike rack, barely looping her lock correctly. She tossed her helmet on the handle bars, not even clipping it down. At that point she didn't care. She started heading down onto the dock, stumbling slightly as her neon green Crocs caught on a loose wood plank. She silently cursed the piece of wood.

She looked up the dock to the 4 large bay openings and saw a light on in the furthest one. Quickly, she scurried toward the light and she could just make out what sounded like a roll-call. She was panting as she approached, not just from her marathon bike and sprint, but because her anxiety getting the better of her. Finally she threw herself around the final corner-

Bam!

Thud!

_Ow… This just isn't my morning._

With spinning eyes, the next thing Anna realized was she was on her back on the cement floor. She groaned, squeezing her eyes closed as she sat up. What in the world? She pried her eyes open, momentarily seeing stars. After another moment, when the stars dissipated, she dared a look upwards, palm firmly placed against her temple. She felt a shiver go down her spine.

The woman from yesterday was staring back at her with a set of cold, blue eyes. Those same, dark eyes contrasted against a pale, doll shaped face. The mysterious woman was framed by a halo of platinum blonde locks, illuminated by the dangling ceiling light bulb. With Anna's eyes still being a little hazy, the woman truly looked like an angel. Anna felt her jaw drop slightly and her hand fell away from her forehead. _Whoah.. Up close, this woman was so.._

"Watch where you're going, freshman."

_Mean._

Anna watched as the young woman stepped around her, not bothering to hide the contempt in her steps, and headed down the boat ramp onto the docks. Anna's eyes followed her for a moment before turning toward the rest of the bay area. Her face flushed crimson. The entire varsity team, plus coaches, had their eyes on her. Oh boy. This was not how she planned to start her first team practice. Her first impressions were always the worst impressions. She gave an awkward wave and scuttled over to what looked like the coxswain group. At least Olaf's never wavering smile was a welcoming sight.

* * *

Coach Oaken graciously finished catching Anna up on how they ran a typical warm-up. Since the first week was just to get the rowers acquainted/re-acquainted with the water, they did a lot of mixed boats to see everyone's skill levels. Eventually they would be divided into 1st, 2nd and 3rd varsity levels.

Anna was so excited because she was assigned to cox the men's 8 for this practice. She always loved the speed of the big boats, even if steering was a little trickier. It was much harder to take a sharp turn when the boat was over 50ft long, but oh so exhilarating to go fast. And Anna liked fast!

Her eyes scanned down the page in her coxswain notebook. It listed her boat line-up from bow to stern (lots of names to learn, she realized), the work out, and the warm up..

She examined the warm up: stern-4 rows for 2 minutes, bow-4 rows for 2 minutes, 2 rotations of 6's for a minute each, then all 8 rowing for 20 minutes of steady state. It was almost identical to her high school's warm-up. Piece of cake.

Her coach took his leave to grab a coat before heading down to his launch. Apparently, he explained, the fjord could be hit with sudden weather and temperature changes so driving the launch around got chilly.

Anna hurried and grabbed the last cox-box and headset, putting the headset on her head. She stuffed her notebook into her jacket pocket. She grinned. Finally it was time to get back on the water with a team! She spun around, cox-box cradled in hand. She took a step to head to the loading racks and-oof!

Bam!

The clatter of a rolling cox-box and thud of her body echoed in the now empty bay.

_Ugh! Not again… _

Anna groaned, rubbing her head for the second time that morning. She had collided with another, firm body. This was too much déjà vu for one morning.

"Hey!" she let out in aggravation. She looked up from her spot on the cement floor. However, this time she was not met with an icy stare of blue, angry eyes. Actually, she was looking up at sincerely apologetic eyes of one of the boys on the team.

"I'm so sorry!" he said quickly stepping forward to her aid. "A-are you hurt?"

Anna blinked. "H-hey.." Wow. He was actually really handsome. "Uh, no no.. I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" He slipped a calloused hand into hers and another around her back, helping her into a sitting position.

"Yeah, yeah. I just wasn't looking where I was going.." _Again.._ she thought ironically. His face was suddenly a lot closer to hers. Anna felt her face warm at the proximity. "I-I'm great, actually." She couldn't help the embarrassed tremble in her voice.

The older boy's face softened and he gave a lopsided smile, hazel eyes sparkling. "Oh. Thank goodness." He swept the tiny redhead up as if she were lighter than a feather. When they were finally upright, he spoke again. "I'm Hans, by the way."

"Anna," she said. She blinked and pointed to herself. "Me, Anna. I mean. That's my name. Anna is my name." She giggled uneasily as she began her characteristic rambling. "Oh this is awkward. I mean, not your awkward. My awkward. You're gorgeous. Wait, what?" She felt her cheeks blush as Han's laughed merrily at her.

"Yes. You made quite the entrance this morning." He wiggled his brows. The redhead inwardly groaned with embarrassment. Of course the entire varsity team had watched her blunder, stumbling in after roll-call. She was so stuck on her remembrance of the incident that she almost missed the boy's words. "I'm excited to have you as my coxswain today."

Anna found herself beginning to smile. Then she heard the calls and whistle commands of the other coxswains getting their boats down the docks. "The boats. We have to get to the boats." She looked at the tall rower, transitioning into her coxswain role, lifting the whistle dangling around her neck to her lips in warning. "Boats. Now." She pointed.

He looked a little shocked at her order and sudden change in demeanor. Wishing to avoid the whistle blast, he chuckled. "Yes, my coxswain." He scurried off, quickly grabbing a water bottle from the mess of backpacks left in the bay.

Anna giggled as he ran to the rack with the other 7 rowers in her boat. She picked up the forgotten cox-box, thankful it had barely received any damage in its fall. Good thing for protective casings. It's as if Arendelle University had already Anna-proofed everything. She let out a silly smirk as she walked down to the outside racks.

She walked by the indoor bays, but she stopped suddenly at the last one, attention grabbed. One person stood inside the room filled with Singles and Doubles. It was that blonde girl again. The storm raging-boat docking-Anna glaring girl. She was in the process of lifting a beautiful ice, blue Single up over her head. Anna froze mid-step.

The blonde's shoulder muscles contracted, visible even through the dark spandex tank-top she was wearing. As she effortlessly lifted the boat in the air, her bare triceps and biceps were also prominent and on full display. _Wow._ _She's so freakin' fit. And those arms and shoulders. _Anna always had a thing for well-sculpted upper bodies. It was like art. And hot damn. Here was a masterpiece. _Wait what?! Where the Hell did that come from?_

Quickly, she blinked, clearing her thoughts. When she refocused her eyes, she met those icy blue orbs once again. And they looked just as annoyed as earlier. Did this woman experience any other moods, or did she live her life under a constant rain cloud?

"Unless you want to be impaled with my stern, I suggest you go to your boat." Calm, cool, collected. Her tone contained all of the above.

"Right, my boat.. My boat!" Anna's eyes widened and she nodded, accidentally backing into a dock railing. "I-I-I better go. I have to go. I better go." She looked back at the unamused blonde one last time and gave a tiny wave. "Bye!" Red faced, Anna hurriedly scurried away to her boat.

* * *

There was something about the lulling sound of oar blades splashing into the still water. The rhythmic clink as the oars rotated in the oarlocks of the boat riggers. Combined with the swish of water flowing beneath the massive hull. Anna loved feeling the run of the boat, the glide. It felt effortless, cutting through the expansive and powerful element with such ease. She sometimes felt herself get lost in the feeling for several seconds. But, alas, even the best of boats were rocked.

"Set it up!" she called into the headset as the boat dipped to Port-side, Port blades skimming across the water as opposing Starboards had to over extend their reach. "Bodies square." The rowers were attentive, sitting upright at her call. 2 strokes. There was the run. Anna smiled.

"You're a really good cox," said her stroke seat, who of course happened to be the Prince Charming she had collided into earlier.

Anna nodded at Han's compliment, picking and choosing her conversation time with the man in front of her. It was already distracting enough to have him coming up and down the slide with each stroke.. for an entire hour and a half practice. His hands on the oar handle would be just within inches of brushing Anna's knees. Anna really didn't need the distraction though. Her focus was on her calls, her steering, the boat's performance, and mainly learning the structure of the winding river she was about to spend the next consecutive four years rowing on.

"Good set by all 8," she said, giving feedback to the men, carefully adjusting the steering ropes in her hands. Occasionally she'd call individual seats out on technique, but Coach Oaken was always driving his launch nearby. He'd come up to their boat, toss some technique advice and then steer over to Olaf's boat. Anna enjoyed keeping her boat near the chipper boy. The other coxswains were upperclassmen and didn't really want to have anything to do with them. Olaf and Anna exchanged their waves for the 4th time that morning.

They had traveled far up into the winding curves of the fjord before turning around. After a quick water break, the boats were doing a steady state workout back to the boathouse. With a quick look at the cox-box, Anna affirmed they were at a rate of 20 strokes per minute. This workout was simple and monotonous, so Anna took the liberty of being a tourist, taking in nature's wonders around them. Mountains, trees, flowers, cranes and loons, ducks and gulls..

Anna suddenly tilted her steering a little roughly, turning the boat's rudder hard, coming around a tight bend. It opened up into the expansive basin of the river, but it was basically a blind turn for a few meters. As she came into the basin, she noticed she was approaching something on her Starboard.

Approaching _fast_.

Her teal eyes widened at the sight of the Single, simultaneously taking the tight turn a slower pace. She gave the emergency call without hesitation. "Heads up, Single!" Her stomach sank as she made eye contact with the horrified looking blonde woman from earlier.

The Single was already drifting close to the shoreline. Any closer and she'd risk bottoming out the boat in the shallows. But all of Anna's Starboard oars were aligned to run right over her.

Anna hurriedly yanked her steering toward Port, knowing she would cross into the opposite boat traffic lane, but it was clear at the moment.

She heard her coach's voice echoing in the distance behind her, but Anna was too busy in her rushing thoughts. At the last moment, they barely gained enough room to graze by the small boat. "Pause!" she called out. All 8 men froze in their finished positions, oars up and out of the water. They drifted past the Single. The up Starboard blades glided over the blonde's flat blades.

Anna trained her eyes on Han's oar, refusing to make anymore eye contact with the women. After his blade was clear, Anna called to start rowing again. The rest of the row back, Anna felt riddled with anxiety. It must have been evident on her features.

"Hey," came Hans' soft voice. "Don't worry about the Ice Queen." Anna looked at him, catching his eyes.

"The.. Ice Queen?" she whispered softly so the headset wouldn't broadcast her words down the boat.

He nodded and scoffed. "Yup. Frigid soul that one is." It looked like he sent a glare in her general direction. But it was gone in a flash. "Don't let her bother you. We mostly ignore her, just like she ignores us. Bit of a loner, that one." His tone was low.

Anna furrowed her brows as she interpreted all of that. _I guess I can see that.. She does seem pretty cold.._

"Anna?" The redhead blinked, looking across at Hans as he continued rowing, coming up and down the slide in a steady pattern. She noted in the back of her mind that he was definitely a good stroke seat. She also noted, for the first time during the row, that his muscled shoulders were adorned with freckles, much like her own. Always a redhead thing. But it was pretty cute.. and Hans was definitely pretty handsome. Those hazel eyes were dreamy..

"Uh.. Yes?" she answered after a long moment.

"I was wondering if maybe you'd wanna go out some-"

"-Yes!"

There was a loud, electronic screech in the boat as Anna's voice shocked the headset's mic. She was met with a bunch of groans and complaints from bow through 7-seat. Her 8-seat, stroke, simply had a grand smile dancing across his rosy lips. She wasn't exactly sure where the sudden surge of enthusiasm came from. She chalked it up to her previous anxiety and general Anna awkwardness.

* * *

It was 8:01 when they finally got off the water. It was 8:04 when they walked the massive boat back to its rack. It was 8:10 when all the oars were put away. It was 8:17 by the time they finished up their post-row boat meetings.

By 8:28, Anna was bidding her teammates good-bye as they hurried back to campus for various morning classes, breakfast, and much deserved showers. Her Friday classes didn't begin until 10 or so, although she was famished and ready for breakfast at the dining hall, she felt no extra reason to rush. She was also well aware of how she was lazy and moved like a snail, as Rapunzel told her numerous times.

With one more once over in the cabinet, all the headsets and cox-boxes seemed to be plugged in to charge. As she finished packing her drawstring backpack, and slung it over her shoulder, she suddenly caught ear of what sounded like a heated discussion coming from the next bay over. She closed the tall, metal cabinet quietly and padded down the hall of boats to investigate. She stood still, taking in the angry tones in the voices and momentarily considered walking away and giving them privacy. That would be the polite thing to do. But who was she kidding? She was Anna. Curiosity always won out.

When she peaked around the joining doorway, she saw the large body of her coach standing before the mysterious blonde rower. Damn, was she haunting Anna's life now? She could just make out the side profile of the blonde rower. She looked like a mix of annoyance and.. even somewhat distraught?

"This is ridiculous!" she said in exasperation, throwing a hand to her hip.

The tall man nodded his head, looking almost just as exasperated. "Yes. Quite. However, this is an administrative issue."

"Screw the administration," she said harshly. "The Athletic Department has no right to take it out."

"Listen, Elsa." _Elsa. _So that's what the mysterious rower's name was. "I argued this point across 3 staff meetings, pushing for the funding. But the final verdict was that it was not worth the department's funds."

The blonde crossed her arms and threw her gaze to the floor. Her mature aura was overridden by the fact she looked like a petulant child.

Their coach softened his voice. "Elsa, we have some options, ya?"

"I don't want to hear it," she barked out, not only looking but also sounding like a stubborn child. Coach Oaken appeared unphased by her words.

"I know you want to scull, and the school will still fund Doubles.." His voice trailed off momentarily. "But our varsity is already filled in the boats that we can compete in the Nationals with. We technically only have one spare." He nodded at the blonde. "You."

Anna blinked, processing the vague information.

So this whole thing meant that the university wasn't funding the Singles races anymore? That's just stupid! It's like the cheapest race since it's basically a pay by boat size deal. Sure, Single's don't mean much for the Collegiate National levels, but even just for fall racing? Wasn't that only for ranking in the college teams? She felt a bubble of annoyance in the pit of her stomach. She totally understood why Elsa would be angry at this.

"I can offer you this, Elsa. You are one of my strongest rowers.. strongest lightweight and even creeping on the open-weights." Anna widened her eyes at this information, eyes doing a quick scan of the lithe rower. _She_ was almost stronger than the open-weights?! "If you join the 1st varsity Sweep-"

"-I don't row Sweep," she interjected hotly. Her gaze was harsh on the broad shouldered man. "I'd at least do Doubles. But I _need_ to scull. Sculling on the team is my only way to practice during the school term."

The man shrugged his shoulders. "Fine. If you don't sweep, then you're only other options are to pull up a novice rower to have as a Doubles partner-" The blonde looked absolutely aghast at the absurd thought. "-or you can quit the team."

Anna had to cover her mouth to hide her gasp. Now that was a little harsh wasn't it?

Elsa surely seemed to think so. "No, coach! I need to be on it. I-I can't keep my boat anywhere else if I'm not on the team." Her blue eyes were desperate at this point. "What about hot-seating?" Good call. Many teams will race a rower in one race and then 'hot-seat' them into a boat for a later race. The only downside is that the hot-seated rower will be worn out upon the second race..

"If we weren't already so competitive with our 4's and 8's, I'd say yes. But you know the large boats always race after small boats." He gave a stern look. "And I don't want my rowers tired when we have the chance to gain a high ranking before spring season."

The rigid body language of the petite rower suddenly deflated, shoulders slumping slightly as she pulled her arms to her stomach. The fight seemed to be draining from her strong body as her choices were whittled down. Anna couldn't stand seeing such a powerful woman look so utterly defeated. She's not sure what compelled her to do it, but her voice couldn't be stifled any longer.

"I can scull, coach," she said, finally revealing herself from the doorway's shadow. Two pairs of surprised eyes locked on her. Before either had a chance to share their queries, the redhead acquiesced their questions. "Rapunzel and I took sculling lessons in Doubles each summer. We liked to stay in shape and all that, so I have a lot of sculling experience. And steering, of course." She laughed at the last line. Of course they knew she could steer boats.

The platinum blonde leered at her, and Anna felt a little intimidated under the scrutinizing eyes. She also noticed their height difference for the first time. Elsa had to be 3, maybe 4 inches taller. It made her feel even smaller under the gaze. She was thankful to hear her coach clear his throat, redirecting some of the attention. "Anna, I'll already have you coxing one of the varsity boats come racing season."

"Oh, b-but that's just it coach!" she peeped excitedly. "I can hot-seat from the Double to coxing. It'd be different if I had to row twice, but if I row and then get to sit for the next race, there's no issue at all!" She was beaming at the end of her statement. She made it up on the spot. _Yet it actually made complete sense. Go Anna!_

She watched as her coach stroked his fluffy beard. "Hmm. That actually made complete sense." _Again. Score for Anna!_

The taller blonde girl spun toward her coach. "You can't be serious. I can't row with a coxswain as a partner."

_Excuse you and that tone!_ Feeling insulted at the comment, Anna eagerly wanted to interject how she was actually pretty fast. And not even just fast for a coxswain! Not a lie. Most coxswains couldn't even clock a race time close to a rower's. But hers was actually on par with, if not faster than Rapunzel's! Not that Anna readily disclosed this information to coaches, lest she get roped into rowing instead of coxing. Let's be real. Given the choice, Anna would much rather yell and tell people what to do than listen to someone tell her to do something.

Coach Oaken beat her to a response. "Beggars can't be choosers. And I really don't think you are in a position to choose now Elsa, ya? If you want to row, here is your chance." His eyes were direct on his rower. She seemed to stand her ground under the gaze and finally, he relented. He turned his hazel eyes to his newest coxswain. "Thank you very much for the offer Anna. I think this is a fine idea given the circumstances. However, I'll let the final decision be between the two of you."

With that, he took his leave. The two girls stood in the dimly lit bay, listening as his booted footsteps faded away. Anna broke the silence almost immediately.

"So, what do you think, Elsa?" she asked with eagerness, taking an apprehensive step toward the varsity rower.

"I think," Elsa said pointedly, finally looking at the redhead. Her eyes were hard and cold, sending a shiver down Anna's spine again. "That you shouldn't butt into people's business."

Anna's jaw dropped slightly at the statement. She didn't even have time to formulate a suitable response before the rower swung her leather satchel over her shoulder and stormed out of the boathouse.

This left the Freshman standing alone in the creaking old boathouse. She finally let out a frustrated huff. As she stared in the direction of the older woman, she couldn't help but have a thought cross her mind:

_What an Ice Queen._

**-End Chapter 3-**

**A.N. And here we have chap 3! ****I'm not a writer, but so far ****I'm definitely having fun writing this :)**

******Again, thanks for reading!**


	4. Tribute

**Chapter 4**

"What do you mean you volunteered as Tribute?" Kristoff asked as he wiped some crumbs off of his face. The girl seated in front of him cocked a brow. She had decided to share her drama filled morning to the burly blond during their lunch break, and he seemed utterly aghast.

"Make it sound like a death sentence, why don't you. Jeeze." She rolled her eyes at his dramatic response. "Look, I'm just offering some help." She picked up her soda cup and placed the straw in her mouth, taking a large gulp of the Coke, eyes nonchalantly looking around the dining area.

"Did she ask you to help?"

Anna hesitantly chewed on her straw before putting her cup down. "Well.. no. But-"

"-Usually in these situations people want to be alone." He looked pensive. "Especially Elsa. She's practically a Queen of Isolation."

"That's silly. No one wants to be alone.." She chuckled, waving a hand at the thought. "Except maybe you."

"I'm not alone." Kristoff yanked his iPhone out of his pocket, swiping the screen to his background. With a cheesy grin, he shoved his phone in Anna's face. "I have Sven remember?" Indeed, the picture of the moose sized dog graced the background of his phone.

"Aww! He's gotten so big!" Anna said warmly, looking at the photo with dewy eyes. "I need to come over and see him.. and your new apartment too." The blond nodded and they sat in silence for a second as he put his phone away again.

"Anyway," Kristoff continued back to their topic, looking Anna in the eye. "You don't know anything about her, which makes it even more random.." He bit into his sandwich again.

"What's there to know?" Anna asked. "I bet I could stalk her Facebook profile if need be."

"Tough luck. Girl doesn't have one."

Anna thought about all the times she'd been through Kristoff's race photos. She figured she'd have remembered seeing any photos of the radiant blonde. She ended up just shrugging. "Oh well, doesn't matter. I see someone who needs help, I offer them help." She cleared away her lunch wrappers, scrunched them into a ball and shot it over Kristoff's shoulder into a trashcan. Her confident smirk caused Kristoff to take a turn rolling his eyes. "Hah. Basket! Maybe I should pick up basketball in the off-season."

"Hell no. If you are rowing in the Double, you'll need to train this winter. It won't be the relaxing luxury of a coxswain anymore." He looked her in the eye. "Which brings me back to my question: Why do you want to help her again?" He cocked a brow, watching the redhead pull out a large Psychology text book.

She shrugged, looking down to the pages as she flipped to an unspecified chapter. She didn't actually have any readings assigned yet. She was just trying to buy some time to the blond's question. "I.. don't know.." That was the truth. She really didn't know why she'd volunteered to help out the woman earlier that morning. It was kind of momentary; a rash decision actually. A heat of the moment kind of thing.. maybe? But don't people tend to regret heat of the moment decisions? She definitely didn't feel regretful about this decision..

Her silence hovered for a moment before the tall blond let out a heavy breath, relieving Anna of the awkwardness. "When do you find out if you'll be rowing with her?"

"She has until next Thursday to decide, since that's when racing season officially starts," she mumbled, leaning her cheek into her hand. A week should be enough time for her to tell Anna, right? Her lips formed into a pout. "I don't understand why she wouldn't want my help anyway," Anna offered, maneuvering to cross her arms in a defiant manner. "I'm awesome."

"Well, maybe because you practically plowed her over this morning." Kristoff smirked. "_Twice._"

Anna's freckled face flushed as she recalled their less than stellar interactions. "Accidents happen.."

"Mhm… Now about this date with Hans thing," Kristoff interjected, seeming eager to ask about this topic. Anna sat up straight. She gaped at the Sophomore's bluntness with surprise. This was an unexpected change.

"How did you hear about that?"

"Through the grapevine." Kristoff chuckled at the teen's confused face. "Flynn. He's basically our royal team gossiper. Him and Hans are roommates and basically best Bros. Obviously that wasn't going to be on the DL."

"Please don't talk in acronyms," Anna deadpanned.

"Fine. But did you even get his phone number?" The silence, and Anna's shifty eyes, answered his question. "Really Anna? _Really?_"

The young coxswain waved her hand at the boy. "Look, it doesn't matter. It's just _one _date."

"Have you seen your track record? Need I remind you that rushing into dating is what landed you with Derek?" Anna wished he'd stop bringing up that awful, and embarrassing, part of her high school life. She'd actually called it 'true love' on their first date. Big mistake, and not one she planned on making again.

"I won't rush anything like _that_. Jeeze." She watched as the tall boy's face turned skeptical. "I _swear,_ Kristoff."

"Uh huh." He moved to tidy up his lunch space. "We'll see." Before Anna could argue it anymore, the blond started packing up his belongings, preparing for his ice sculpture class. He tossed his backpack over his shoulder, brown eyes softening at the freckled girl. "Just keep me posted on the deets."

"Stop talking in chatspeak."

Kristoff laughed turning from the table. "Good luck with all this, Feisty Pants." He smirked as she shot him a weak glare at the childhood nickname.

Still, she nodded a thanks. It was only the first day of crew, the first day of class, and already her social plate was filling up beyond expectation. Her teal eyes followed Kristoff for a moment before looking back at her textbook. She knew she'd need all the luck she could get.

...

_Hell, no. She is not doing it again. I will not stand for this childish avoidance any longer! No one ignores Anna Grace Suvi and gets away with it!_

It had been almost a week since her last direct interaction with the blonde rower, and Anna was fed up.

She stormed after the blonde following Wednesday morning's practice. She didn't care that her boat was preparing for their usual post-row boat meeting. Her sight was set on catching the elusive woman. Anna had learned, over the last few days, the blonde had no reason to stick around after practice so she usually hightailed it off the premises. But Anna was having none of that today. Elsa was completely avoiding her and enough was enough.

"Elsa!" she yelled, annoyance evident in her tone as she marched after the woman's retreating form. She wasn't sure why she felt so angry about this waiting game that Elsa was making her play. But she did. She had offered genuine help to this woman and was scolded for doing so? Never had she experienced such audacity as Elsa's attitude. Perhaps it was that which fueled her aggravation. When the woman didn't stop her brisk pace, Anna tried again. "Elsa, stop!"

Anna approached a dark blue sedan in the boathouse parking lot. The blonde rower had finally paused in the middle of opening her car door. This gave Anna a moment to catch up, stopping a few feet before the blonde.

Adjusting the strap of her satchel, Elsa tossed a casual look over her shoulder. "Yes?" Her collected tone made Anna's eye twitch in irritation. She sounded like she hadn't heard Anna calling her name. As if.

The coxswain took a breath, puffing out her chest, ready to assert her question. "Have you decided yet?" Her question was met with silence as the blonde's eyes fell to the window of her car. Elsa stared blankly at her reflection as the shorter girl continued. "I'm just saying since tomorrow is the start of race season and stuff so you kinda have to say something or your boat has to go and you won't be on the team and the-"

"Anna." The rower's terse voice stopped her from her typical rambling. Elsa turned all the way around, finally honoring Anna's presence. "Look," she said, any emotions hidden beneath the greatest poker-face Anna had ever seen. "I know you mean well, but leave me be."

"But you shouldn't have to go through this alone.."

The rower let out a low growl. "Yes, I'm alone, but I'm free to do what I want. I don't need anyone else trying to interfere with my life or distracting me." _Distracting her from what?_ Anna wondered, searching Elsa's eyes. Those eyes had become increasingly harder upon the conclusion of her statement. They were literally the only indicator of the woman's emotions, Anna finally noted.

Elsa made to turn herself around again, assuming the conversation was done. But a tan hand reached out and grabbed her wrist. Sapphire eyes looked up in mild surprise at the contact.

Anna looked even more surprised when she glanced at her grip on Elsa. Her arm had acted on its own accord, it seemed. She brought her eyes back up just as Elsa did the same. Anna felt her cheeks heat and she dropped her hold on the pale wrist. However, she held tight to their now locked gaze.

"We can face this thing together," she said sheepishly, blushing harder when she actually heard her words aloud. _Oh god that was so horribly cheesy.._

The taller girl watched her for a long moment, stoic face betraying nothing of any inner thoughts. It was majorly aggravating to the teenager. But what was even more aggravating was how the blonde took her leave: without words.

Just a slam of a car door.

A wirr of an engine.

And scuff of tires retreating.

Anna stood in the parking lot as she watched the blue sedan turn onto the street, heading back toward the city.

...

Thursday morning practice finally rolled around. Anna glanced at her watch as she rounded the corner of the boathouse onto the docks. She grinned in delight as the digital numbers ticked. 6:13am. 2 minutes early! The only reason for this occasion had to be because it was officially the start of racing season. Today Coach Oaken would announce the preliminary boat line-ups for the fall races. The intense excitement made dragging herself out of her snuggly, blanket cocoon almost easy.

_Almost._

Anna trudged up the wooden ramp of the dock leading to the boat bays. As she passed by the first bay, she unconsciously slowed her steps, peering through the dimly lit Singles and Doubles shelves. Before she even consciously realized what she was looking for, her eyes fell on the lowest shelf on the right. Her heart sank.

The ice blue Single was nowhere to be seen. Elsa's shelf was left empty.

She had tried so eagerly. For whatever reason that was. Yet even after all her efforts, looked like it was all for not. She didn't expect to feel _this_ disappointed.

Anna let out a quiet breath before continuing her way to the last loading bay, suddenly feeling a little less excited for racing line-ups.

Flynn and Mulan stood with Coach Oaken at the head of the bay. Both were holding stacks of what looked like purple and gold spandex. Anna felt her curiosity pique, but she quickly found herself at Olaf's side to prepare for practice.

"Hey Olaf," she said putting her bag down in the mass pile of bags. The tiny coxswain smiled at her presence. Anna couldn't help but appreciate the exuberance that radiated off of him all the time. She honestly didn't know how he always stayed so happy, especially when the sun hadn't even breached the horizon yet.

"Good morning, Anna!" he said, chipper as ever. He handed the spunky coxswain her headset and cox-box from the cabinet. Anna took the gear with appreciation. "Did you see the uniforms?" he said while turning toward the captains.

"Oh, so that's what they're holding!" she whispered in a new bout of excitement. She tried to take small peeks at the folded garments while trying to write down the morning workout. She had seen photos of the uniform from all her stalking of Kristoff's Facebook photos.

The colors were the university's own royal purple and gold. The men's uni was royal purple with a gold sash draping from the right shoulder across to the left hip. The women's was similar, but the gold sash began lower on the right, draping across to the left hip and bursting into gold bubbles. Both uni's had a golden 'A' embroidered on the left shoulder.

Her handwriting was terribly scribbled as she anxiously eyed the Captains the entire time.

After what felt like an eternity, she watched Flynn clear his throat, immediately commanding the room's attention.

"Now that it's officially start of Fall racing season, it's time to honor our newest members with the royal garment of unification!" He grinned while the tall woman at his side rolled her eyes, but smiled politely at his zealousness. Anna could already tell that the Captains' personalities were like night and day, but the dynamic seemed to work.

Mulan stepped forward, taking the lead away from the Junior Captain. "So can we ask our freshman to come up and receive their uni's-"

"She means royal garment of unification!"

"-and then we'll announce line-ups."

Anna and Olaf chuckled as the Senior simply ignored Flynn's jokes. The bucktoothed boy stepped up to Flynn, along with two other boys lining up behind him as they were handed the men's uniform. Rapunzel and Anna were the only varsity freshman girls and quickly got their uniforms from the tall Asian woman.

"Whoah," Anna said, immediately opening the uniform and looking at the metallic design. The gold was even shinier up close.

"Wear it well, girls." Anna looked up at her captain, just in time to catch a wink.

After a giggle shared between the two young girls, Anna and Rapunzel took their seats. This time coach Oaken stepped up and announced their racing line-ups for the fall. Anna awaited her name and boat until the final call.

"And our 1st Varsity Four, with Anna coxing, will be Hans as stroke, Marshall, Flynn and Kristoff in bow."

Anna grinned, teal eyes finding Kristoff's equally excited eyes. _Well I certainly couldn't ask for a better line-up._ What started as a disappointing practice suddenly became much better. Mind now set on her boat, Anna hopped into coxswain mode.

...

After practice, Anna crammed her extra clothes and new uni down in her backpack, simultaneously scrambling for a granola bar. Her stomach was growling up a concert inside her. A scream-o concert. She had to have a snack to satiate the beast every few hours or so, lest she succumb to hunger insanities.

Also, being placed in a Four was going to be both awesome and rough. In a Four's phenomenal boat design, she got to lie down. Which is fantastic.. unless you are Anna who could easily doze off in the middle of steering. It can't be helped. 6:30 in the morning who else wouldn't want to go back to bed? She was seriously going to have to consider bringing coffee, or else she may fall asleep.

As Anna sat, bag between her legs, mouth about to munch down on her Luna Bar (chocolate brownie flavor of course), she heard a scuff beside her. Her eyes directed toward the sound, eyeing a pair of fancy, leather boat shoes. Mouth still hovering open above her Luna Bar, Anna drew her eyes skyward. She gasped.

It felt so similar to the previous week: Anna, painfully sprawled on the cement floor of the loading bay, staring up into two piercing ice eyes. The tall blonde woman, staring down at her in contempt.

Only this time, Anna's butt was not throbbing.. and those eyes weren't angry. Actually they looked sort of.. disinterested? Maybe interested? Go figure. Anna couldn't read them for the life of her. So she instead chose to continue gaping like fool at the Sculler. That is until the silence was broken by a terse voice. Wait, those were words. Anna blinked.

"S-sorry. What?"

An exasperated sigh. "Meet me here for practice at 2:30 this afternoon."

Practice? Why would she be practicing unless-

Wait.

Wait what?

Was she serious?

Anna slowly processed the information, all of those metaphorical gears and cogs turning in her mind. She watched as the two blue eyes finally broke from her gaze, as disinterested as before.

"Don't be late." And with that the blonde strode away into the boathouse with the chilliest aura Anna had ever felt.

But that didn't matter.

Anna didn't waste a second, scrambling to her feet. She jogged as quickly as she could in her Crocs, coming to a squeaky halt in front of the adjacent loading bay and almost losing her Luna Bar in the process. A lopsided grin spread across her freckled face.

Elsa's Single was nestled safely on its boat rack, glimmering in all its glory with a few remaining water droplets.

Anna's mouth numbly closed over her chocolate bar. Whether it was the shock of the moment, or the delicious chocolaty taste, Anna felt a bubble of excitement rise in stomach.

**-End Chapter 4—**

**A.N. Sorry this took a bit longer. Good news is the other chapters should be longer in length (yay!). Started using the '...' to separate scenes too. Again, thank you for reviews and the PM's. :)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. Something in the Air

**Chapter 5**

True to Elsa's word, Anna had checked her email immediately upon returning to her dorm that morning and she saw her coach did indeed send out an email: "Doubles Practice". Her eyes scanned the message at least three times, just to make sure she had read it correctly.

'_Allo Anna,  
I received confirmation that Elsa will [be honored to] have you as her Doubles partner. To accommodate the practice schedule, you will continue to cox the Mens-4 during morning practice, and Elsa will row in the Single. But both of you will meet at 2:30 every afternoon for an afternoon session together.  
Thank you again for offering your help. Best, Coach O._

_P.S. Regardless if she says it or not, I know Elsa greatly appreciates you for this.'_

Well, it looked like her and Elsa were going to be practicing in the Double every afternoon from here on out. Still not sure why, nor bothering to question it, the constant thought made her grin through all of her daytime classes.

After her class let out at 2pm, Anna hightailed it to the bike racks. It took her mere minutes to find herself flying down the main road, leaving the university's campus in her dust. The afternoon traffic was heavier than she was used to at the break of dawn. The constant waiting for stop lights was seriously impeding on her transit time. Never the less, she had time to spare and just waited out the traffic.

When she parked her bike at the crowded boathouse rack, she checked her watch and commended herself for getting there exactly at 2:25. 5 minutes early? She literally laughed out loud to herself. This was unheard of. She was really on a roll today. Something had to be in the air. It was the only explanation. Anna took a large inhale, not wanting to let any of this fresh, magical air pass her by.

With pep in her step, she ran onto the docks. The docks definitely looked different when lit by afternoon light. She had gotten so accustomed to the shining moon and stars, or early rays of sun. Now she could see more of the indents in the wooden planks, and the water looked bluer. Not that eerie black of the morning.

Her eyes saw a crowd of people sitting around where she normally met up with the varsity rowers. _Must be the novice rowers_, she deduced. Her eyes caught sight of Coach Weselton. _Such a strange little man_.

Reigning in her thoughts, she continued down the dock. She noted that there was a Double already resting in slings at the base of a bay ramp. Deviating from her typical path, she approached it carefully and tilted her head in curiosity. As she stepped around it, leaning in close to read the boat's name (_Arendelle's Glory_) she heard a hard cough.

Anna yelped, stepping away from the narrow boat. Only then did she notice the staring figure in front of her, with arms crossed and foot tapping.

"You are late," Elsa spoke, eyes pinned on Anna. Anna was about to protest, but the older woman continued. "I said 2:30. Meaning on the water _at_ 2:30. Get here at least 15 minutes prior next time."

Anna opened her mouth to form a retort, but decided not to push it. She stumbled around her words for an appropriate excuse. "Y-yes. Sorry. Traffic was just.. you know. And-"

"Please, spare me." The cold words hit Anna like a brisk wind. There was no use pushing anything more. Anna nodded, accepting Elsa's cold demeanor, and hurried up to the bay to drop off her things. As Anna scurried up she heard a distant call of "Grab a SpeedCoach!"

Anna vaguely remembered where the SpeedCoaches were stored, semi below the rest of the cox-boxes in the charging cabinet. She all but ignored the novice rowers who were getting a lecture from Coach Weselton about river safety.

The moment she saw the narrow, electronic box she swiftly grabbed it, turning and ran down the ramp. The SpeedCoach was kind of a cox-box for sculling boats. It told the stroke rate they were doing, as well as a speed time (much like the devious Erg screen).

As Anna came back to the bottom dock, she noted Elsa had laid out their two sets of sculling oars and was standing by the bow of the boat. Anna stepped up to the boat's stern and followed Elsa's motion.

"On my command.. Hands on," came Elsa's tenor voice. Anna listened immediately grabbing onto the hull. She found it strange taking command from someone else for once. Normally she was in charge and hated getting commanded to do anything.. But this was different. It had to be due to Elsa's pitch change. Anna found it odd to hear the blonde's voice dip so low. It must have only dropped that low because of the cool tone she added while giving the command. _That's kind of sexy.. wait what?! _

"Anna!" The redhead's eyes blinked rapidly, realizing the boat in her grasp was moving up. It was lifted diagonally and now slightly twisted, almost falling from her hands. She shot a look over her shoulder to the opposite end. The look Elsa gave her was incredulous. "I said up to shoulders! Don't you know your commands?"

"R-right!" Anna blushed furiously. She drew the boat all the way up and rested it atop her shoulder. Her grip was tight. She purposefully maneuvered herself to face away from Elsa. _Just let your cheeks cool down._ _It was just a missed command._ She talked herself down. _Just a missed call… A missed call that could have been very bad if we dropped the expensive boat… but we didn't!_

Her ears were trained on Elsa's commands at that point, listening and obeying all of them with precision. _I have to demonstrate that I know my shit, cuz dammit I do!_

"Toes to the edge." Anna took a few sidesteps along with Elsa until both of their right feet were on the lip of the dock.

"Roll to high waist." In a fluid, synchronized motion, both brought the boat down from their shoulders to take a momentary pause at their waists.

"Push it out, and in." The final call brought the two women angled over the water, placing the boat in so it did not scuff against the docks.

Elsa glanced to the redhead. "Hook up the SpeedCoach and adjust your foot stretchers. I'll grab the oars."

Anna furrowed her brow at the statement. Hook up the SpeedCoach _and _adjust her foot stretchers? Typically the stroke seat in the boat had the SpeedCoach.. Was Elsa actually implying that..

"Uhh.. Elsa? Am I stroking?" she blurted out, nervously spinning toward the blonde who was approaching with both sets of oars in her arms.

"Of course," the older woman said blatantly, as if it were obvious. "I need to continue practicing my steering." She gently placed Anna's oars at her feet. Anna suspected that Elsa definitely would have thrown them if she didn't have such respect for the sport and its equipment. "Remember, we are only doing this so I can continue training with my Single here. That's the arrangement." She turned to put her own oars in her oarlock.

"'Arrangement.' Right," Anna said, trying to unsuccessfully stifle her eye roll. "What is it with you and the Single obsession anyways?" The glare shot toward her made her clamp her hands over her mouth. _That wasn't supposed to be out loud. Stupid mouth. Stupid. Stupid. Always running faster than my brain._

"Is this a problem? I thought you could scull," Elsa bit at her harshly, eyes narrowed.

Anna hurriedly knelt beside the front seat and went about adjusting the foot positioning for her height. "Nope, no problem at all." Technically that was true. "And yes I can scull!" And technically that was true too. _I've just never been the stroke seat since I have no tempo control._ She figured it was best to not ruffle any more feathers than she already had that afternoon.

Once they were seated in the boat, hands on the dock, ready to push off, Anna took a deep breath and prayed that the practice would go over well.

…

"It was sooo embarrassing!" she groaned, burying her head into the language textbook nestled in her crossed arms.

The two blondes walking beside her chuckled, Kristoff placing a large hand on her shoulder. "Rough first practice with the Ice Queen, eh?" There was a muffled response beneath the book. Rapunzel and Kristoff glanced at each other and shrugged. "Gotta remove your face if you wanna talk like an adult, Anna."

Anna yanked her head back with a dramatic sigh. "I caught 4 Crabs. _Bad_ Crabs. Like the oar was totally ripped from my hand each time each time kind of Crabs… And I interlocked our starboard oars somehow, I don't even know how... And back-splashed her horribly when I checked to make a turn. I can't believe we didn't capsize!" She was met with silence as her friends processed the information, leaving Anna to fester in her embarrassed state.

"You really _can't _keep a tempo to save your life," Rapunzel offered, familiar with their summer rowing. She always stroked since Anna was always better at steering in bow seat and giving the rowing commands.

"That's what I said!"

Brown eyes looked at her. "You told her you're an awful stroke and she still made you do it?"

Anna hesitated and looked away. "Well, maybe I didn't actually voice that specific bit of information.."

The two taller rowers rolled their eyes. "No pity," they said in harmony.

The group stopped at the opening to a stairwell.

"Well, we're going up," Kristoff said as he pointed up. The 4th floor of that building was dedicated to the fine art studios. The two blonde's had their night classes in adjacent classrooms. They were lucky. But it left Anna to trudge the rest of the way to the West wing of the massive Arts building by herself.

The Fine & Performing Arts building (or '_Artendelle_' as she heard Kristoff refer to it as) was specifically reserved for all of the art related classes: Studio, Fine, Theater, Graphics and Language. While her friends got to go play with charcoal, paint, and do finger painting (this is always the first thing to come to her mind about art), she was about to endure 3 hours of foreign language.

Worst of all, as she progressed in her lonely travels, the location of the foreign language classrooms looked more and more like she was passing through the dungeons of a horror movie.

The West wing was old, probably part of the original college building built about 3 centuries prior. Renovations surely skipped over this end. The brick walls were musty, and the light fixtures seemed decades older than the ones she saw in the hallway minutes earlier. It smelled funny too. She crinkled her nose as she maneuvered down the eerier corridor. Why did her only night class have to be in creepy Frankenstien's Lab?

She checked the scribbled room number on the back of her hand, and opened up the heavy wood door. Inside was a tiered lecture hall. A couple of students already filled the seats. Anna was still on her magic early streak, having 3 minutes to spare, so she assumed most of the class had already arrived. There were maybe 15 or so students. Not a popular language course apparently.

She decided to lay low and take a seat in the last row, sort of off to the side of the lecture hall. She always hated the center seating and avoided it at all costs. What's worse than zoning out right in the center of the Professor's eyesight?

After taking a seat, putting her notebook and fluffy pen on the long table in front of her, she pulled out her technological relic. As she turned the phone's sound to silent, she saw there was a text alert. She opened it, leaning back in her swivel chair.

'_Hey! curious if you're still considering my offer of going out :)'_

Anna smiled reading the message. She hadn't gotten the chance to really speak to Hans outside of practice the past few days. They were able to exchange their numbers at least, and they talked at practice, but the first week of classes is usually an adjustment period. And Anna always needed a bit of adjustment time. Being thrown to the wolves was not her style. Hans seemed to understand, which was sweet. And Kristoff was worried she'd rush into something again? Pssh, please.

'_Of course! When were you thinking?'_

The next message was so immediate that the older boy must have had it ready to send.

'_Tomorrow night? Movie? 7pm? :)'_

Anna had to chuckle quietly at the bluntness. She sent a quick affirmation, just as she heard the door opening to the room and the sound of a deep, accented man's voice. She dropped the device down into her backpack, directing her eyes to the front of the dimly lit room.

As she took in the scene at the center podium, her eyes widened, jaw unhinging slightly.

"Hello class, and welcome to _Polish 101_," the stout, balding Polish man said in a grumbly voice. He was pulling a stack of presumed syllabi from his satchel. "I'm your instructor, Professor Pabbie." He then turned, handing the stack of papers into the hands of the cause of Anna's shock. "And this is your Senior T.A. Elsa Winters."

The tall, thin blonde standing at his side gave a polite smile to the class, cordially nodding her head. She took the syllabi stack and began passing them down the rows as Prof. Pabbie began speaking about the course directives and goals.

All of his words fell on deaf ears as Anna followed the blonde's exact movements, watching as she took a step to each tier of seats. She delicately counted out the number of syllabi needed for the row of students. Anna couldn't get over the sight. And it was more than just _who_ it was. It was _how_ she was dressed.

There was no tank-top accompanied with spandex shorts. Elsa was now dressed as professionally as the professor; button-up blouse beneath a navy sweater vest with long black slacks covering her toned legs. Gone was the long, plaited braid. No more were those wind-swept bangs. Instead, her hair was tied up in an elegant bun, soft bangs brushing down over her forehead. It was surreal seeing someone make such a drastic transformation between settings. Anna couldn't decide if she preferred one look over another. She herself certainly could never pull off such a well kempt look. But Elsa...

Anna suddenly felt a little self-conscious about being seen in her casual t-shirt paired atop distressed jeans.

After 4 slow steps, Elsa reached the top level. Her blue eyes looked up to count the students but ended up locking on to the lone student sitting in the 4th row.

Anna didn't know what she was expecting to happen. A glower for messing up at their first practice? Withholding the syllabus so she fails the class? Death? Any of the above seemed possible.

But she was definitely not expecting to witness the blonde give a slight lift of her lip. Maybe it was the lighting, but Elsa's eyes were surprisingly soft. As she was handing Anna the paper directly, she mouthed a quiet 'Hi'.

_Hi? Hi me?!_ She felt her cheeks redden at the unpreparedness for the situation and was thankful for the dark room. "Um h-hi?" she whispered back. With a shaky hand, Anna grabbed for the stapled packet. Immediately, once the exchange was done, Elsa's face melted back into that stoic mask that seemed to be ever present.

Anna watched as the T.A. moved down to take a seat in the front row below her, slightly to the right. If she wanted to, she could stare at the Senior's side profile all class. Not that she wanted to. It was just a simple fact that she could _if_ she wanted to. But she didn't. Yet it was such a struggle to tear her eyes away…

Finally Anna trained her eyes ahead of her, watching the old professor flip to the schedule portion of the syllabus.

…

_Is it awkward to have her number? I didn't ask for it like a normal human being. Only creepy people get phone numbers without asking. _

Anna sat scrunched up in her desk chair that night, only the dim light of her desk lamp illuminating the workspace in the dark dorm room. The _Polish 101_ syllabus lay in front of her. She twiddled with the relic in her hands, contemplating clicking the 'Add Contact' button.

She wasn't being creepy though. It was printed right at the top of her syllabus under the TA's email: _EWinters. AU. edu._ She chuckled to herself. AU. Arendelle University surely was an Alternate Universe to the life she'd known before… Off track. So anyway, was it awkward?

It probably wasn't awkward. No, of course not. And honestly, why would it be? Everyone in the class had her phone number now. Anna wasn't special. At least in that regard. She did, however, get to have her one-on-one rowing time with the blonde woman. Maybe that's why it was awkward. She knew Elsa on a personal level.. eh, more personal at least. She frowned.

Acquaintance?

Teammate?

Ah! Teammate. Yeah. That works.

She sighed, pressing the keys of her phone, finally deciding to add in the information. Elsa was her TA. Of course Anna was expected to text her if she had a question. Or maybe email was more appropriate for that.. Anna never had a TA before. Maybe you don't text. What if that was annoying? Anna sure as Hell did not want to annoy the Senior anymore than she already had. She was only 1 week into university and 1 day into sculling with the blonde. How on Earth would she survive the Fall racing season with an annoyed Elsa? Let alone making it all the way through Spring!

She hit the Save button, creating the new contact to her list. She moved her thoughts in another, more positive direction.

It was probably good to have the number. What if something came up and she had to reach her partner? What if she ran late to their practice again? She shuddered at the thought, but knowing her track record it was certainly plausible. She rubbed her temple. This thought was going to bother her all night if she kept dwelling.

"Why am I so hung up on this.." she murmured to herself. It snapped her out of the daze of wonder. "Stupid, Anna."

She put her phone on her desk, being sure to check her alarm was set for 5:25am. No need for any more late fiascos. All dressed in her pink penguin pajamas, teeth brushed, and alarm set, she crawled into bed. Once she was tightly cuddled beneath her blankets, she blinked and sat up.

_Maybe I'll check my alarm one more time. Just to be sure._

She opened her phone to see that, indeed her alarm was set: Friday 5:25. AM- Alarm On.

That's when she noticed a text alert. Her immediate thought was of the auburn haired boy in her boat. They had been talking after Anna got out of that obnoxiously long class. It was kept very casual, refining the details of their date for tomorrow evening.

She opened her text inbox and was, quite oddly enough, pleasantly surprised it was from someone else. She blinked, rereading the name at least 4 times.

Why did 'Elsa Winters T.A.' send her a text?

She clicked open the message sent by her newest contact.

'_Hello, Anna. This is Elsa. I thought you should have my phone number incase anything came up regarding future practices.'_

Anna blinked at the message, looked around her empty room, then back at the text. _Was she reading my mind?_ Looked like her troubled thoughts were all for naught after all. And what was with the formality of her text? Who wrote in grammatically correct sentences and ended their messages with periods nowadays?

She considered, for a moment, what to respond with. She decided simple was best, and hopefully not embarrassing. She did a few rough drafts to get her wording right. She chose to erase the part about her adding in the number from the syllabus. That could still seem creepy.

'_Thanks! Totally agree! Have a g'night :)' _Was the smiley face too much? She hoped not because the message was sent.

She happily put her phone down, finally feeling ready to go to sleep now that her thoughts from earlier had been quelled. And just as she snuggled under her fleece blankets again, a thought struck her making her eyes shoot open.

How did Elsa get _her_ phone number?

She groaned, rubbing the base of her palms against her eyes. Dammit Elsa. Now she was going to be wondering this all night.

Suddenly, 6 hours of sleep looked a lot shorter than previously.

**-End Chapter 5-**

**A.N. So now the plot ball is finally rolling. I love the reviews and PM's where you're all skeptically trying to figure out Elsa's character development. Heads up, it will be a slow progression (so just think how Anna's gonna feel about that :) ). **

**Also if anyone would like me to include information regarding rowing terminology/explanations in the A.N. let me know. I know not everyone is familiar with some things so I'd be happy to explain anything :)**

_**"Catching a Crab": when the oar blade is stuck in the water, resulting in: getting torn from the hand, flipping over the rowers head, or ejecting the rower from the boat**_

**Thanks for reading!**


	6. Liquid Doom

**Chapter 6**

At practice the following morning, Anna made an attempt to foster the newfound friendship she had established with Elsa (or whatever they were). But that didn't go over as expected. Elsa breezed past her greetings at morning practice, and then gave her a cold shoulder through their Doubles practice in the afternoon. Was that really necessary? Like _really_? No. The answer was no.

Anna didn't let it get to her though. Elsa's icy attitude wasn't going to ruin her day. She had her date with Hans to look forward to after all. In the evening, the two crew members had ended up going to see the latest Hunger Games movie, as per Anna's request. Afterwards, Hans suggested they check out a nearby bar, but because Anna was only 19 he redirected their destination. So they went to his favorite sandwich bistro located in the upper west side of the city. They had been laughing, cracking jokes and sharing stories. At one point Anna even smacked him in the face trying to explain her attempt at flying as a kid. But otherwise, everything was going pretty well.

It was late evening when the two finally left the dive-y bistro; Hans gushing about the delicious sandwiches, Anna laughing about how she stole a bite of his food. He made a comment that he could eat there forever, although he'd be worried about watching his weight. Anna scoffed.

"You are too fit for that." She giggled.

Hans chuckled. "You flatter. I do all my afternoon work-outs on the erg and lift every day! It takes work to have a body like this." He flexed his biceps which looked even more massive in his loose fit t-shirt. Anna laughed, playfully nudging him in the shoulder. When he stumbled she let out an 'oops'.

"Sorry, sometimes I don't know my own strength." she giggled, tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ear in a nervous habit. But Hans didn't seem to mind.

"You're really strong. I am impressed!" Anna bashfully smiled and shrugged. Hans was one of the top 4 fastest male rowers, so hearing him compliment her strength was sweet.

He looked a little closer at the younger girl, eyes focusing on something. "What's this?" he asked pointing to a thin white streak popping out in Anna's fiery red hair. The girl absentmindedly reached for the streak, assuming she had hidden the odd looking locks. She'd gotten picked on as a child because of her funny hair. Ever since, she tried to hide it amongst her braids.

She rolled her eyes, slightly embarrassed. "Oh, I was born with it.. but I dreamt I was kissed by trolls." She waited for the expected cackle of laughter.

Hans' next words were soft. "I like it." Anna wasn't expecting that. It made a blush rise to her cheeks and tiny butterflies flutter. No one complimented her hair like that. It was such a pleasant surprise. They walked in silence for a few moments as Anna reveled in the happy feeling.

"So how has it been with the Ice Queen?" Hans asked, breaking the silence and clasping his hands behind his back. He looked down to Anna's curious eyes.

She thought for a moment before responding that things were okay. She shared the new information of Elsa being her TA and briefly explained their rowing arrangement. It was honestly hard to summarize her experience with Elsa so far. It was black and white, yet simultaneously so gray. "Why do you guys all call her the Ice Queen, anyway?" she questioned at the end, noticing Hans' quiet exterior.

Hans laughed as if it were obvious. When he noticed his date's interested gaze he slowed his laugh. "Are you serious? Don't you know who she is?"

What sort of question was that? How could she know anything about Elsa when they'd basically just met? They'd barely even started having full conversations. And even those were like 90% of the time initiated by Anna.

Anna suddenly felt a bit on the spot. "Um.. should I?"

Again, the auburn haired boy laughed, shaking his head. He looked like he wanted to say something, but opted in another direction. "In layman's terms, she's a bitch."

Anna frowned at this information, eyes narrowing slightly. "That's not nice.."

"And she's not nice," he said giving his date a look. His hazel eyes read Anna's unsure expression and he lifted his head a little higher. "She uses people, is what I mean."

"Uses them..?" she said quietly to herself.

"I know you've already gotten looped into rowing with her, but it's best to keep your distance otherwise." His eyes hardened. Anna felt a round of nervousness rise in her stomach. Hans was really set on this information. Why did he feel this way? Obviously he knows Elsa better than she did, but was the blonde truly this.. evil? She felt oddly at a loss for words for once.

"Wow. Um.. That's a lot to take in.." Her thoughts flashed back to her interactions with the athletic blonde. She mulled over his words momentarily. "But I don't think you're right about her not being a nice person.."

Sure Elsa was off-putting, kind of anti-social, maybe a little arrogant.. pretty cold.. impassive.. rude.. okay, so in culmination that is pretty substantial evidence for being a bitch. But then there were those other moments. Those moments where the blonde showed another side. A more human side. Anna recalled Elsa's defeated expression the previous week, how she pulled in on herself when arguing with Coach Oaken. There was that surprise, and a transient glimpse of fear, when Anna had grabbed her wrist. Then there was that smile exchanged in class last night..

The thoughts swirled in her head and she felt a little dizzy.

"Just be careful around her." His words sounded final, and Anna didn't want to push this conversation any further than it already was.

After that, the duo walked in silence for a while before picking up a conversation about sandwiches again. Anna was thankful for the topic change, and she tried so hard to stop her wandering thoughts. It was difficult though. Vaguely she could feel herself answering questions and exchanging laughs, but anytime there was a slight lull in the conversation, her thoughts were swept back to the rower. After the Elsa topic had been breached, she couldn't get the image out of her head.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts of Elsa that she hadn't even realized that they'd stopped outside her dorm building. The date was over. She purposefully blinked her eyes, focusing as much of her focus back to Hans as possible. It was only polite. He was smiling and Anna knew she had a small smile too.

"I had a wonderful time," said the charming boy.

"Me too," Anna said honestly. It had been one of the top dates she'd ever been on truthfully. It was easy to laugh with Hans.

They stood there for a moment and Anna wondered if she should say goodnight and take her leave. She hated goodbyes at the end of dates. It was always an awkward decision to make. Do you hug? Do you kiss? Do you kick them in the shins and yell 'yatzee'? It's always a complicated decision.

"Can I say something crazy?" Hans asked all of a sudden. Definitely not what Anna was expecting. It made her giggle in surprise at his excited expression. Oh what could this silly boy be about to say. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

Whoah. His what? She was expecting something more along the lines of regarding sandwiches. Maybe pterodactyls. Or even Spider Pig! But not this. She stared at those shining, puppy looking eyes. It was cute. But she should really think about this before-

"Yes."

-answering because she shouldn't make the same mistake… _Oh dammit mouth! Can you just stop running faster than my brain for once!_

Hans' face lit up with a smile, obviously oblivious to the teenager's inner monologue. He gave a mock bow to his lady and the two bid a simple goodnight. When he looked at her again, Anna took a breath and turned around, opening the door to her dorm and quickly slipped inside. The thought of what had just transpired caught up to her. She puffed out the large breath she'd been holding. Now she had Hans to think about along with all this Elsa stuff. She put her head in her hands. She knew Kristoff would probably kill her for the rash decision.

…

The few straggling rowers were packing up their backpacks in the bay area. Anna was getting used to coxing from the bow of the boat, and was already really enjoying her Four's lineup. They worked so well together, they had a perfect set and the 4 rowers were insanely strong. It was great. And it was also a perk that Saturday morning practices started an hour later.

But despite the overall awesome row and wondrous extra hour of sleep, practice had been minorly distracting for the redheaded coxswain. While on the water, she had occasionally caught glimpses of the elusive Singles sculler. It made the workout a little difficult to concentrate on because each sight caused her to remember Hans' conversation. At one point during a water break, she had covered a hand over her mic and pulled it away from her mouth. She tapped on her bow-seat's shoulder to get his attention.

"Kristoff," she had whispered. "Hans seemed sort of bitter when he talked about Elsa last night. I'm not sure if it was just me though.." Anna bit the inside of her cheek as she pondered the idea for a moment. "Does he not like her or something?"

Kristoff was a little confused by the random question. "I'm not positive. He and I aren't exactly compadres," he had whispered, keeping his voice low so Flynn wouldn't hear him. "Why?"

"No reason." And she left it at that before going back into practice mode.

Following their boat-meeting, Marshall and Olaf took off for a family party while Flynn and Hans left to go to the boathouse locker rooms. This left Anna with Kristoff and Rapunzel, who had joined the two in packing up.

"So how was your date?" Rapunzel asked excitedly, nudging Anna's arm.

Kristoff nodded, eyeing Anna's nervous expression suspiciously. He was just as curious after their conversation in the boat. "Yes. _Do_ tell."

Anna quickly chirped. "Good! It was fun. Movie, dinner, walking and talking and stuff.." Although Rapunzel was all ears, Anna could blatantly see the growing skepticism displayed across Kristoff's face. Maybe she spoke a little too quickly, or maybe a little too zealously. Maybe it was the vagueness, or maybe Kristoff could simply read Anna's mind. There was a long pause followed by a deep groan.

"_Anna…."_ Kristoff said in a pained voice. "Seriously. Who agrees to be the girlfriend of a guy she goes on one date with?"

"Wha- I didn't even mention he asked me!"

"...Now you did."

Rapunzel's excited eyes become confused. She looked between Kristoff and Anna. "Did I miss something?"

"Anna here just has a bad habit of jumping into relationships," answered the man, crossing his arms over his chest.

Anna huffed, slapping one hand over her face and raising the other in defense. "Fine. Yes. He asked me and I panicked. But don't worry, I know plenty about him."

Kristoff smirked. "Oh really.. what's his best friend's name?"

"Probably John.. wait no, Flynn! Hah!" She immediately prepared herself for the barrage of questions Kristoff was about to throw at her.

"Favorite food?"

"Sandwiches."

"Eye color?"

"Dreamy."

"Foot size?"

"Foot size doesn't…" She couldn't stifle the laughter that passed her lips. She heard her best friends begin laughing too.

Rapunzel's green eyes sparkled with mischief. "Yeah. Go ahead and try to say that with a straight face!"

Once their amused chuckles calmed down, they finished pulling their bags over their shoulders.

"Alright ladies, I gotta take Sven out," Kristoff said while checking his watch.

"Yeah, Pascal needs food too.."

"Wait you brought your Iguana to college?" Kristoff looked at the blonde girl.

Rapunzel rolled her eyes. "He is a _chameleon_. And yes."

Kristoff gave a lopsided smile, understanding the urge to keep your favorite pets while in school. His eyes fell on the redhead. "Well, I'll talk to you later. And don't think I'm letting this thing go."

Anna begrudgingly affirmed the notion. "I _know_." Kristoff headed out of the bay, and Rapunzel and Anna started to head into the locker room area to wait for Hans and Flynn.

"Anna?" The redhead stopped at her name, recognizing the voice. She turned and saw behind her the blonde athlete standing at the bay opening. Anna paused, noticing the woman's attire. She was still clad in her white spandex shorts and tank top. Usually Elsa was already dressed in her sleek navy jacket and blue jeans before Anna had even put her equipment away. This was odd.

"What's up?" she asked, taking a few steps back toward the platinum blonde. The sculler gave her body a once over. Anna leaned her head back a tad under the scrutinizing glare. She glanced down at her loose sweatpants and usual white, sports jacket. "Uh, what?"

"Are you wearing _that_ to our Doubles practice?" Teal eyes slowly widened as her brow raised in confusion. The blonde cocked her hip, crossing her arms. "Saturdays, we have our second practice now."

"What do you mean we have a _second _practice?" Anna screeched, looking incredulous. Elsa's eyes widened a fraction in surprise at Anna's whiney voice. "I haven't even had breakfast yet!" She slumped her head and shoulders down as her stomach rumbled. She forgot her snack today.

The tall rower gave the pathetic looking redhead another look. She chewed her lip in thought before going to her satchel. Rapunzel had stepped up and patted Anna's slumped shoulders and Anna weakly looked up at the golden blonde, with a pout on her lip. She sighed and opened her mouth to let out another string of complaints when she caught a movement in her peripheral.

She looked forward and saw a pale hand offering a Luna bar in front of her. And it wasn't just any ol' Luna bar. It was chocolate brownie flavor. Her favorite! Anna reached her hand out for the bar while looking up at Elsa. The blonde's disinterested eyes were toward the ceiling rafters, refusing to meet Anna's shocked and appreciative ones. "Thanks."

Elsa seemed to momentarily bring her eyes to Anna before landing them over her shoulder. She briskly turned on her heal. "Meet me at the Double in 5 minutes. No later." Elsa's tone held its usual icyness again. Before Anna could say anything else, she noticed a new presence at her side. She looked up and saw her new boyfriend there. He didn't look too pleased at Elsa when Anna first looked at him, but that immediately changed when he faced her.

"You have another practice?" he said giving Anna a saddened expression. At Anna's nod and apology he smiled. "No worries. I'll talk to you later. Good luck with her." There was that wary tone again. Had she not already broken into munching on the Luna bar she may have questioned it further. Instead, she opted to give the man a good-bye hug, bidding the group farewell, before going to put her extra stuff away.

As Anna put away her sweats and jacket, preparing to drag herself to get the Double, Hans quickly piped up again from down the hall. "Oh, remember to find your bathing suit for Monday evening's swim test!"

_Swim test? _Anna squeezed her eyes shut and pursed her lips in frustration. Like a frustrated child, she stomped her feet and let out a dramatically pained wail._ Fuckkkk._

…

It was truly a stark contrast than compared to looking out at a dark, flowing river. The water was flat and crystal clear, reflecting against the fluorescent lights hanging on the ceiling.

Anna's stomach sank and she let out a pained groan. She hugged her towel across her waist as she stared at the Athletic Center's massive swimming pool. She stood beside Rapunzel who was doing some warm up stretches, sporting a purple bathing suit decorated in bows. The blonde tossed her friend a glance. Noticing the apprehensive look, she patted Anna's freckled shoulder. "Hey, don't fret. You always do fine in the swim test."

Anna was dreading the swim test since the day she arrived at the university. Yes. For obvious safety reasons, every rower and coxswain had to be cleared to participate on the team. To participate, they had to pass a general swim test to prove that, in case the rare event a boat happens to capsize, they can swim to safety. Regardless of doing this every year, Anna still had a personal aversion to the test.

She was not the greatest swimmer. Nowhere near it, in fact. As odd as it sounded, despite her love for being on the water, she was never partial to actually being _in_ it.

"Personally, I think it's an inaccurate representation of swimming ability," she huffed in general annoyance. They were required to swim 4 laps of the pool and then tread water for 5 minutes. All within a calm, beautiful pool. But just because you could swim in a pool doesn't mean you can swim in the river. If a crew boat capsized on the river, the water would have to be churning and rough. It basically took an all around tsunami-like condition. Her mind slipped into a brief vision of massive waves splashing and crashing.

"Probably." Rapunzel's voice brought her back to the still water before her. "But it doesn't matter. Half the team is life guard certified, or has been on a swim team. In any emergency we'll be safe." She smiled her brightest, toothy grin to help ease her friend's concerns.

Anna let out a heavy sigh. "I better go get to the head of the line since I'm just going to be lapped by everyone anyway."

Her flip-flops squeaked as she approached the skinny, pale skinned boy who was also waiting at the front of the line. Olaf smiled up at the taller coxswain.

"Slow swimmer too?"

Anna had to laugh at that. All the slow swimmers got in the water first. "Very."

"Well, let's swim slow together then!"

And again, Anna was left feeling warm at the ever constant energy Olaf harbored. It was nice to know she had a buddy in this. Both of them shuffled off their flip-flops and put down their towels. While they stood ready and waiting to be first in the chlorinated water, Anna looked at the line up forming behind them.

Since their team was so massive, all of the freshman and Novice were scheduled to take the test earlier. The varsity rowers would come in right after. Many of the freshman, mostly on the men's team, were already pretty bulked and muscled. Probably due to playing sports in high school. A lot of the girls seemed pretty buff too.. But some of the other freshman seemed more about Anna's size, specifically the 4'11" blonde coxswain who went by Tink. Anna figured she_ had_ to be faster than that pipsqueak. Maybe she wouldn't be left in everyone's wake for once..

..which of course was a terribly hopeful dream. Not only was she passed by literally everyone, she was instantly lapped by the sassy fairy sized coxswain. Only Olaf had graciously swam along at her pace.

Anna lugged her arm over the buoy line after she finally finished her 4th lap. Why was swimming so demanding on the cardio? She seriously didn't know how swimmers did it. Olaf bobbed beside her, also heavily winded.

A burst of water splashed over them as Rapunzel shot up, tossing her hair back. The massive ponytail sent a spray of water across everyone in her lane. "Phase one complete! Bring on treading water!"

After an agonizing 5 minutes consisting of Anna trying to keep her head above water, she was finally free of the torture. She scrambled in an ungraceful doggy paddle to the pool's edge. The varsity team slowly began gathering on the deck as the freshman pulled themselves out of the water. Anna bobbed in the swishing water, hand on the deck for support, waiting her turn for the ladder. When she finally had her footing on the lowest rack, she hauled herself up.

As she began the ascent onto the top step, she looked up. And just as she did, a pale form emerged from the shadows of the locker room. Anna's eyes grew wide.

The lean, athletic body of her Doubles partner sashayed across the pool deck wearing a basic, navy one piece that rose high in the hips and low in the chest. With a towel lazily draped around her shoulders, her bathing suit clad body was on full display. And there was not much left to the imagination.

Anna's face felt hot as the older woman continued her alluring walk closer, hips swaying back and forth like a hypnotic pendulum. A hot pendulum. A hot pendulum coming straight towards her. _Oh. My. God._

Without warning, Anna's next step missed the slippery foothold and she was sent forward. The action caused her other foot to slip, and suddenly she was sliding downwards. She barely registered the smashing pain in her nose as she was suddenly re-submerged beneath the clear water. Chlorinated liquid filled her mouth while her eyes scrunched in dizzying pain. Before she could begin to panic at her situation, two sets of arms hauled her up and out of the pool.

She sat cross legged and sputtering, hearing the life guard's voice talking to her. She blinked open her eyes, trying to clear the burning sensation of chlorine. The first thing her sight registered was the red liquid forming a river down her wet body, heavily contrasting against her green bikini. The liquid puddled on the pool deck around her. She then looked up, catching the horrified looks of all the upperclassmen. She noticed Elsa's usually calm eyes were now widened, clearly expressing the woman's shock. Anna thought she was about to say something, but she felt a familiar body beside her.

"Anna, here. Take this," came Hans' voice as he passed her his towel, pressing it lightly against her running nose.

She wished she could stop the blood from rushing to her face, but the embarrassed blush would not go away. She hung her head low, trying to ignore the worried stares she was receiving. Now she had a whole new reason to hate swim test day. She really could have done without it.

Plus side was she passed. _Hooray_.

…

After administered a once over for a concussion check by the on staff trainer, Anna was instructed to stay seated on the life guard bench until she felt steady to walk. The upperclassmen did their swim test and some of the freshman boys hung out in the hot tub. She had tissues sticking out of her nose acting to stop the blood flow. To make light of the situation, she had tried to make a jest about needing some tampons to plug her nose. Only Rapunzel and Kristoff seemed to get the 'She's the Man' reference which left her even more humiliated.

The varsity seemed to finish much faster than the novice did. However that may be relative. She was miserable during her test and pretty hazy during theirs. The athletic bodies of all the varsity began rising from the liquid doom (That was what Anna decided to call pools from now on).

"How ya doing champ?" Hans asked coming to her side. He rubbed his towel in his hair, a few droplets sprinkling out.

The redhead nodded, still a little hazy, and pointed to her stuffed nose. Her voice was kind of nasal sounding as she spoke. "It's helping."_ Even if I sound like a chipmunk right now._

Hans smiled. "Good to hear. I'm so sorry, but I gotta run for a group project thing. But I'll see you later." Anna nodded as Hans leaned down to kiss her, causing him to only catch her forehead. She couldn't help but feel slightly relieved at that accident. Probably because her nose was stuffed with tissues and she felt awkward. Otherwise a real kiss would have been totally and completely fine. She hadn't confessed to anyone else that they hadn't actually kissed for real yet.. Hans didn't seem offended though and waved while hurrying off to the locker room.

The life guard was packing up her things and said Anna seemed fit enough to go, so she stood up.

"How's the nose?" Anna turned to her side, looking for a body accompanied with the female voice. Her eyes ended up falling to the lip of the pool. Elsa was resting her chin on folded arms, staring up at the freshman. Anna tugged the towel tighter to herself, turning and waddling over to the woman.

"Better," she said, carefully squatting down closer to the blonde's level. Anna could only assume her hair had become a fiery, frizzy mess at that point, and she probably looked overall ridiculous. But Elsa.. Her platinum bangs were swept back as neatly as ever. How this woman's hair always managed to look immaculate, Anna would never know. Up close, she could even see the tiny droplets clinging to the blonde's nose and thick eyelashes. She was so pretty. Anna knew a small smile had appeared on her face. Elsa didn't seem to notice and merely nodded.

"I'm surprised you didn't break a tooth face-planting like that." Honestly, Anna was surprised too.

"Haha I guess I have a hard skull.." She shrugged. "Why are you still in the pool?" Anna asked, noticing the water was now empty. Everyone was pulling on their flip flops, hanging out in the hot tub or exiting to the locker rooms. The athlete withdrew her arms from the pool's edge and pushed away. Her powerful legs kept her head and shoulders above the water's crest.

"I'm going to do a work out in here before I go lift." Anna wanted to question why Elsa was about to do a _third_ work-out after both of their water practices that day. She worked out more than Hans. "Got to stay in shape."

_Stay in shape? You're in perfect shape._

"Your physique helps, I'm sure." Elsa froze in place near the buoy line, momentarily faltering and letting her chin dip beneath the water. Anna felt a new rush of blood rise in her cheeks, probably about to cause another bloody nose. She really said that out loud, didn't she. "Wha-what I meant to say is, um, you obviously work out a lot 'cuz you're hot." Her eyes went wide and she clapped a hand over her mouth. _Oh God Anna why?_ She couldn't tell if there was a blush forming across the blonde's face or if Anna was just so flushed that the world looked pink.

In all her glamour, Anna spun around and shuffled toward the locker room. She heard a splash behind her, knowing Elsa probably did a similar escape from the awkwardness.

All she wanted to do was go back into the locker room, change, go back to her room, and smother herself under a pillow to hide her humiliation of the day. She noticed that Mulan had joined her side, asking her a brief check-up of how she was feeling. After getting a quiet affirmation, they went on their way. As she and the Captain strode over to the locker rooms there came a shout from the hot tub followed by a thudding of running feet. Both looked as a pack of rowing men went charging past them. Anna's hands flew to her eyes as her cheeks went warm.

They were naked.

Mulan stood next to her as the men all rushed into the locker rooms. "I never want to see a naked man again," she muttered, shaking her head at the boys' immaturity. Anna merely offered a weak laugh, trudging into the girls' locker room. She was surprised to find she sort of agreed with that statement.

**-End Chapter 6-**

**A.N. So I absolutely love all of your reviews and PM's! You guys are questioning so many things, and they will each be answered in due time in coming chapters. Just laying foundations as I go ;) **

**My favorite part of writing this is incorporating little details (lines, actions, lyrics) from Frozen and across other Disney movies hehe. And shout out to my girlfriend who lovingly takes the time to proof-read each chapter for me. :D**

**Thanks for reading!**


	7. Tutor

**Chapter 7**

"..And that is why we need conjugations," concluded Professor Pabbie at the end of class. That entire lecture had just flown over the young student's head. Even if Anna had been paying attention, she wouldn't have understood this Polish grammar logic. She straightened her back and let out a yawn. Surely there was going to be a red mark on her cheek from where her face had been propped the majority of the lecture. She finally drew her eyes away from the doodles in her notebook as the class was instructed to pass in their homework.

Anna passed her worksheet down to the students in front of her. Elsa walked around, collecting the papers as students packed up. She clacked them together into a tidy stack at her seat.

Anna stuffed her notebook into her backpack. It took her only a few seconds and then she checked her phone. She saw Hans had texted her, but she'd just answer it later. She stuffed the device in her pocket, and put her arms through the bag's shoulder straps. She waited her turn to exit the full row of students. It was the third class and Anna had moved herself to now sit in the second row. It hardly aided in her concentration, but after almost falling asleep in the last lecture, she figured it was for the best. Now that she'd successfully stayed awake through the 3 hours, her goal was set on talking to Elsa.

By the time she'd reached the bottom floor, the tall woman was already engaged in a conversation with the professor. And of course they were discussing in Polish.

"Czy myślisz że kartkówka będzie źle?"

"Myślę że to nie dobry pomysł. Ale to byłoby śmieszne."

Suuure, talk in code around the students. They were probably plotting to give some evil pop quiz; the bane of any student's academic life. And they probably found it funny.. Anna decided she'd just wait outside.

Since the two had begun their daily practices, Anna had been growing more and more curious about the mysteriously cold blonde. As Anna's curiosity grew with dozens of questions left unanswered, so did her frustration. She couldn't begin to fathom why the woman acted the way she did. She wanted to know what made this bewildering woman tick, to know her story. And when this redhead wanted something, she got it.

_Eventually _at least. Maybe with some kicking and screaming, prodding and scheming. But nevertheless, Anna Grace Suvi got it!

So ever since her first class interaction 3 weeks ago, Anna realized that when Elsa was removed from the crew setting, she was oddly enough less critical. Sure, she was still reserved and anti-social, but one could almost say she was more human. Thus, this made it the perfect opportunity to actually make conversation with the woman.

The anonymous students had trickled down the medieval hallways, soon followed by the stout professor. Anna tapped her foot as she leaned against the wall, patiently waiting. Her patience began to waiver after about 15 seconds. After another 30 seconds passed, the professionally dressed woman at last stepped out.

Elsa looked up after shutting the door. "Hello."

Anna smiled, pushing off the wall and stepping forward. "Hi!"

"What's up?"

"Nothing. I just thought I'd walk with you." Anna shrugged, looking up at the blonde. "If you would like the company that is.."

Elsa politely nodded and began walking down the hall with Anna at her side. Anna occasionally took a side glance to the older woman, noticing that Elsa's eyes never strayed from the path before her.

_She's really not the social type.._ Anna thought as they walked in a prolonged silence. _And it doesn't help that I'm incredibly awkward. Maybe this was a dumb idea. No. It'll work. Focus, Anna._

As they continued, eventually leaving the Arts building and walking into the brisk night air, Anna tried to break the silence. "Sooo.. I like the boat shoes you wear to practice."

She noticed a confused crinkle in Elsa's side profile as she processed the comment. "They're _Salvatore Ferragamo_, Italy."

Anna felt her grin falter, recognizing the expensive designer brand name. She laughed nervously. "Mine are _Crocs_, Wal-mart." She smiled up at the stoic faced blonde, hoping to elicit a reaction to her joke. No such luck. A minute of silence passed before she tried again.

"Sooo why are you the T.A. in this class?"

Elsa calmly replied, "Because I speak Polish and it's a good paying work study job." It was a simple, albeit logical, reply. Anna nodded.

"That makes sense." She waited a moment. "Do you like it?"

Again, Elsa easily answered. "It hasn't been bad so far." Anna nodded again slowly, hoping it would prompt the Senior to talk more. No such luck. So Anna went on. One of them may as well talk.

"It's kinda tricky. I thought it would be more similar to Finnish. But hey, whaddaya gonna do?" She shrugged her shoulders. This caused Elsa to glance down at her. Anna noticed the movement from her peripheral. However, she chose to keep her eyes trained forward. Inwardly, she smiled at that success.

"Are you Finnish?"

Anna smiled at the question. Elsa actually initiated a question that was directed to Anna's life. This was wonderful progress. "_Partially. _I'm a native born Norwegian, but my grandpa was Finnish. So I was more familiar with the language at least."

"I figured," said Elsa causing Anna to send her a questioning glance. Elsa gave a small, knowing smile. "Your last name is Finnish for 'Summer'. I speak a little of it too."

Anna couldn't tell if she loved it or hated it when Elsa found out these things about her. Granted her last name was posted on their team roster, and on her homework. But still. _How can she know so much about me and I don't know anything about her yet?_

"Well, yeah, actually that's true.." She beamed up at the taller girl. "That's so cool. How do you know so many languages?"

Elsa drew her eyes up to the dark sky. Her voice came out with a casual, airy tone. "My parents work in business and international relations. They run a fairly big corporation after all." Her airy voice held a light laughter, though it was laced with satire.

Anna's eye narrowed hearing the last statement. _A big corporation, huh? I wonder what one.._ She blinked. It clicked. "No way. Do you mean Winters Management? The biggest international business in Scandinavia?" Anna needn't keep up on Norway's current events to know about that company.

The blonde looked at Anna in surprise. "You.. didn't put that together?" Her honest, questioning tone made it appear that this information was probably common knowledge. Or at least Elsa was _used _to being known for it. Had she really thought Anna knew this about her?

Still so surprised, Anna shook her head. Why would she have figured that out? Of course she was smart and all but.. sometimes she was pretty oblivious to quite obvious facts. It certainly did make sense now. Elsa's material objects were definitely on the expensive side. She owned a boat for Pete's sake! Anna should have guessed the blonde came from the Upper side of the tracks.

Under the scrutiny, Anna scrunched her shoulders and put her hands in her aged, sweatshirt pocket. Unconsciously, she nervously played with her relic of a phone. There was a building rise of inadequacy.

Instead of the sarcastic remark Anna had grown accustomed to receiving at practice, Elsa merely rolled her eyes. She seemed to expect Anna's obliviousness a little more readily now. "Well, they made a big deal about the importance of being multi-lingual with the Nordic countries. Mom suggested I pick up Polish too. That's why." She ended it there, not elaborating on anything more. Typical.

The shock slowly died away at the nonchalance of Elsa's voice. The way she brushed past the subject made Anna sense that the subject would rather go left unspoken. Elsa was certainly not the boastful type. Not at all. Confident, indefinitely so. But never boastful. Maybe that was why Anna never considered the connection. She looked up at the blonde in admiration on numerous levels now.

"That's so neat. I'm impressed!" Anna said finally, actually feeling proud of the woman next to her. Elsa just kept her stride, tall and poised. Instead of thanking Anna for the compliment, she just glanced across the street.

"Don't you live on the residential campus?" she questioned, pausing her movement. Again, there was no critical tone in her voice like there always was at practice. It was just a flat, observant manner.

Anna saw her building and felt some disappointment well in her stomach. Their walk was over. If she tried to prolong it, that'd probably seem weird. "Yeah.." she said sadly, not bothering to hide it from her voice. "What about you?"

"I live on North Street."

"Oh! Kristoff lives over there!" Elsa just nodded at the statement. Anna sheepishly smiled after her outburst and scratched her neck nervously. "Right.. Well, see you at practice tomorrow." Unlike when she had to say good night to anyone else, Elsa didn't even leave Anna time to ponder what she should do. She simply left with a veil of silence and continued on her route. Anna crossed the empty street and looked to where the small, retreating form was.

She smiled to herself. So what if she couldn't remember anything from lecture. She considered this a very productive evening.

...

Friday seemed to come too soon. It was the first day in October, and the day before the first fall Regatta. Where had the time gone?

After 2nd practice, the girls brought the Double over to a boat trailer. It was how they would transport the massive boats to the Regatta. They removed the clunky metal riggers, leaving the hull of the boat narrow, sleek and ready for transportation.

When the Double was tucked away on its shelf, Anna went about her typical routine of gathering the oars. She packed the oars on the bed of the boat trailer while Elsa tightly strapped down the boat to make sure it was safe for transportation. The trailer truck would be traveling about 60 miles to the Regatta tomorrow and no one ever,_ ever_ wanted a boat to fall off.

Once everything was squared away, both women quickly grabbed their backpacks out of the loading bay, avoiding Coach Weselton's lecture to his novice crew team. Apparently a few of them accidentally dropped an Eight into the water, scuffing its hull against the dock. Anna was so glad to escape that horrible lecture. When an Eight costs $43 thousand dollars, you are never that careless.

The two women briskly moved across the porch, both accessing their bags; Anna pulling out her bike key, and Elsa, her car keys. Most of the time when they left together, the time was filled with silence. Occasionally it was decorated with Anna's various grumbles. Depending on the day, the complaints ranged between hunger, assignments, rain, blisters, and people.

"Nice work today." The redhead froze mid-way through her complaint about how she had a test earlier that morning. Her teal eyes looked up at the pale face that was looking at her with a friendly, albeit minuscule, smile.

She hesitated for a moment, analyzing that there was indeed no hint of sarcasm behind the blonde's compliment. "Oh, thank you.." Anna began to smile nervously in response to the blonde's smile. "Do you think we're going to do okay tomorrow?" There was still some nervousness in her voice. It was her first collegiate level race of the fall. How could anyone not be nervous?

The blonde nodded, pulling her satchel over her shoulder. As they stopped at Anna's bike she looked at the freshman again noticing the visible nervousness. "You will be fine."

Anna felt her heart swell at the earnest words.

"However." And now that heart swell was gone. Nothing ever good followed when a sentence started with 'however'. The redhead watched as the tall woman's expression turned into a mildly stern face. "You got a 45/100 on your homework yesterday. I suggest you worry more about your grades than the race."

Anna felt her face drop. Elsa already graded the homework? Was her TA even allowed to disclose this information? Whatever, that wasn't of any concern now. She failed the homework!

What if her grades kept going down? If she got a C in any class she would be kicked off the crew team. She could be kicked out of college! But she studied so hard for those SAT's! She even passed up Oslo's free snow cone day to study for the SAT's. And raspberry snow cones are her favorite! Not good. Not good..

Seeing the growing panic wash over the once bubbly freckled face, Elsa dropped her teacher façade. "And that's why you have a TA to help you." She was clearly amused as two glistening orbs looked at her in wonder. "All you have to do is ask-"

"-Tutor me!" Anna's tan hands clapped together in front of her with a smack and she visibly winced as she felt a blister pop. She bowed her head in prayer.

The blonde rolled those deep blue eyes at the dramatic plea. "Well, since you asked _so_ nicely.." She gave another small smirk to the wide eyes before her. "Bring your homework to the Regatta tomorrow. We'll work on some of it between the races."

"Eeee! Thank you! Thank you!" she shrieked happily, feeling herself bubble with relief. All that previous paranoia washed away and she jumped at the opposite rower, engulfing her in a tight hug. She was still partially in mid-air hug-attack when her actions processed in her brain. As Anna's arms made contact around muscled shoulders, the firm bodied rower stiffened up like a board. Actually a brick wall was a better metaphor.

_Oh god what are you doing Anna!_ Her eyes widened as she hugged the stiff blonde. _Just play it off like you didn't notice her reaction. Be cool, Anna. Be cool. _Not even waiting a hot second, she pushed herself back to arms length. There was an obnoxiously large smile in place and she was trying to avoid the saucer sized eyes looking down at her.

"Thanks again!" Anna squeaked an octave higher than normal. She relinquished her grasp on the blonde's navy sleeves. She distracted herself by pulling her helmet onto her head while her partner, TA, and now tutor, turned briskly on her heel and walked away toward the parking lot. Anna let out a huge breath when the blonde rounded the corner of the boathouse and she gave a lopsided smile to herself.

"Well, looks like you handled that well Anna," she said while dusting her hands together. She cringed immediately. "Ow ow ow blister blister blister!"

...

"Stop picking at it," Kristoff admonished as they sat in his tiny apartment. "I will be pissed if it pops all over Sven!" Sven sleepily laid at Anna's feet as she picked at the only remaining blister on her palm.

"He has a point," commented Flynn who sat on a chair across from her. "That'd be nasty as Hell!"

Anna huffed, annoyed at her boys' input and more so at the stupid blister. Her hands had never been used to this much sculling and it was taking its toll. Everyone else's hands had already become calloused from years of rowing. Hers were never able to build up the resistance quite as well.

"Thanks for the compassion, team," she moaned sadly.

"Seriously, bros. Be nice. She's got beautifully delicate hands." The suave voice came from none other than her boyfriend. Hans plopped down on the grungy futon beside the teenager. He raised Anna's tan hand to his lips, kissing the back of her hand. Anna blushed at the action. At the sound of gagging, she spun her face to the other men in the apartment.

"Blech! Save the sap for the bedroom!" called Flynn, throwing an empty can of Pepsi at his roommate.

The auburn haired boy barely smacked it away in time.

"Alright everyone," Kristoff said as he plopped down in a lounge chair. "Let's get this meeting underway."

The 5 teammates were meeting to discuss their race plan for the next day. All were pumped and rearing to go, but Anna suggested they have a talk anyway. It would also facilitate some bonding time. She listened as each rower offered some words of encouragement. Marshall elaborated on the course map, since he had the most experience rowing in this 6 kilometer race. Anna listened carefully about the turns and landmarks, like where the half-way point was.

All of the men unanimously agreed that her coxswain calls needed to include landmarks and distance, or else they'd probably die of anticipation. 3 miles was a _long_ race.

In addition, Anna quickly reminded them of when they had upcoming Erg tests. The Erg test on the indoor rowing machine gave a quantitative number for their rowing strength and speed. Her boys waved it off, not worried at all. Anna smiled at their confidence. She knew they all had the fastest men's speeds on the team.

"Last, I want to give all of you guys Race motivation!" Anna chirped, digging into her backpack.

"What more motivation do we need?" Flynn asked, sitting forward curiously. He watched Anna pull out a few index cards.

Kristoff smiled. "Ah sweet! You still make these?" Anna nodded and handed each a card. All of the boys read the quote written down.

'_Harder. Better. Faster. Stronger. Together, we fight.'_

"They are my mini-inspirations for each race. So you better rock it!" Everyone cheered at the little memento their bubbly coxswain gave them, feeling even more pumped for their row.

Once they had finished the logistics of their race plan, Flynn dug out Kristoff's X-Box. "And now we play!" he shouted, holding up the controller and whipping out Call of Duty. The group laughed.

Hans looked questioningly at Anna, not sure how she felt about partaking in video games. She smiled softly and nodded to the TV. "You go play, I think I'll go help Kristoff bring out some snacks." The rower thanked her and kissed her cheek before sitting down next to his roommate. Anna hopped over the large dog at her feet and proceeded into the enclosed kitchen.

She approached as Kristoff poured some food into Sven's bowl. The staccato clinks of dog chow in the metal bowl instantly had the moose dog charging into the room. Kristoff patted the animal and looked up at the redhead who made herself at home sitting on the counter-top.

"So about my text from earlier.." she started lamely, bringing her hand to play with one of her braids. She had a thought before coming to their evening boat meeting, following a text conversation with Hans. More so this 'thought' was about her newly established relationship with Hans. She had immediately texted Kristoff with her concern regarding a substantial missing detail between the couple..

The blond stood upright, heavy brows looking down at her skeptically. "Uh_, yeah_, about your text from earlier.. What do you mean you've been together for almost _a month_ and you haven't kissed yet?" he whispered incredulously. He kept his voice low, despite the loud hoots coming from the other room.

Anna raised her hands in exasperation. "Well you _told_ me not to rush anything!"

"That is not what I meant and you know it." Kristoff put his face in his hand at the ridiculousness. "God Anna. What if you hate the way he kisses? Don't you know that kisses are the number one indicator of whether a person is good for you?"

Anna waved her hand. "That's a superfluous exaggeration."

"Do not insert fancy SAT words while I reprimand you." Kristoff huffed. "Seriously Anna. You need a Dating 101 course." She rolled her eyes, looking away. Kristoff sighed. "At least kiss him soon to figure this out."

Her determined teal eyes shot back at him. "Fine. I will." She pushed herself off the counter and marched passed the blond, ignoring his questions of where she was going. She entered the living room and abruptly approached her now standing boyfriend.

The boy smiled at her appearance. "Anna-"

"Hans you have to kiss me!" she said grabbing at the lapel of his hoodie. The older boy's expression turned into that of surprise at the outburst.

"Wha-"

"Now!"

Kristoff shut his eyes and smacked a palm against his forehead from the kitchen. As if he actually expected Anna to take his advice appropriately. The other boys in the room chuckled.

"Go on, Hans. We'll give you two some privacy," chided Flynn, not looking away from the TV screen. Marshall chuckled beside him.

Anna roughly dragged her boyfriend down the hallway, Hans struggling to keep his footing. Once they were out of eyesight, she brought her eyes to his. Hans looked down at her with his questioning, hazel eyes.

"Slow down.. what's wrong?" he asked in concern.

"Well I was just thinking and.. um we um.. haven't kissed yet and.." Her words trailed off as a confident smirk came across the man's face. He nodded and put a hand beneath her chin.

"Ah, a true love's first kiss."

The redhead felt her cheeks redden at the remark. True love? Already? The gravity of what she was about to do began to sink in. Her nerves were rising. She let her eyes close as Hans brought their lips together..

And that was it. Lips together. That was all it felt like. The butterflies of anxiety that had been swelling up seemed to drop dead upon the contact.

Her first thought of the experience was not what she was expecting either. _It's kind of squishy, and his lips are definitely chapped.. He should start wearing chapstick-_ Her thoughts were cut off momentarily as Hans deepened the kiss, tongue thrusting into her mouth. She was met with a heavy dose of saliva. _Oh God, is there a faucet in his mouth?_

He pulled her closer, tilting his head some more. Anna fought off Kristoff's nagging words of wisdom echoing in the back of her mind. She desperately focused her mind in the moment. _Just concentrate Anna. This isn't so bad. He's your boyfriend. He's hot. Um um.. oh! Remember him at the pool. Yeah. His rippling abs.. those toned arms.. that creamy skin.. luscious legs... low cut swimsuit...pink hued cheeks... sparkling blue eyes… _

Anna's eyes shot open as she extracted herself from their entangled bodies. She stared wide eyed into two, certainly_ NOT _blue eyes. Oh God.. Had she really just imagined.. Why would she imagine.. What in the world was _that_?

Hans smiled, misinterpreting Anna's expression for one of excitement. "Was your world just rocked, or what?" he said in a cocky manner.

She laughed nervously. "Oh it was certainly rocked alright.."

The muscled man put his hand at the small of her back and led her back out to the living room. She did her best to steady her racing thoughts. Yes, she had had sloppy kisses before. Her ex-boyfriend felt just as weird.. But was this kiss seriously so awful she actually had to imagine a girl? Elsa? _In a swimsuit?_ Did this happen to all straight girls during bad kisses? She cursed herself upon admitting he was a bad kisser. Kristoff would have a field day if he knew. She couldn't tell him. Especially about the other part..

_Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out_.

She tried her hardest to collect her thoughts. It had to be a fluke. She merely needed to just get used to Hans' kissing style. She could adapt, and maybe teach him to be a better kisser. Then there would be no more horrid experiences like.. like..

In her anxiousness, walking back to the living room, Anna wringed her hands together tightly. All of a sudden- _Pop!_ Now that wasn't right. Anna felt warm liquid trickle down her palm. Then there was an accompanying sting. She unclasped her hands and looked down. She frowned, reclosing her hands, hiding them from the boys. "Umm.. can I request a tissue?"

"Eww did it pop?" Kristoff said, already heading into his kitchen for some form of towel. She was thankful she missed the dissatisfaction etched across his face. "You need to quit it with this body fluid leakage already." Anna let out a dry, mocking laugh at his reference to her pool fiasco.

"You should sanitize it. Don't want it getting infected," offered Hans as he took the girl's hand in his own.

"Good plan. Don't want to amputate," Flynn agreed. "Saw it happen to a rower once. Full blown infection from one uncleaned blister. Bam! No more fingers." He nodded when it seemed no one believed him.

Anna's eyes widened. Her mind was pin pointed on this new terror. "Amputate?!"

"Anyone have any hand sanitizer?" Marshall tossed Flynn a small bottle. Flynn then handed it to Anna. Now terrified of developing an infection, the girl wasted no time, flipping over the bottle and squeezing out the alcoholic, gel substance over the open blister.

"Wait Anna! No no no don't-" All of the boys looked on in horror. But none of their faces compared to the one of pained horror that exploded across Anna's face. She had forgotten the ultimate side effect of alcohol on an open wound.

"Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!"

**-End Chapter 7-**

**A.N. I am going to do a massive rowing vocab note so everyone is up to speed..…**

_Coxswain (cox-in):_** person who steers the sweep boats while rowers row. They wear head-sets to broadcast commands across the boats (ie. when to speed up, turn, stop, docking, motivate..). On the Erg, coxswains motivate rowers to row hard.**

_Sweep:_** Each rower has one massive oar to one side of the boat (Port or Starboard). **

_Sculling:_** Each rower has 2 smaller oars, one in each hand.**

_Blisters:_** Always occur on hands due to friction from the rowing motion of the oar against hands**

_Open-weight vs. Light-weight:_** Basically rower size. Light-weights need to weigh-in under 160lbs for Men & 130lbs for Women, and are in separate events. Because they're smaller/lighter, they'd theoretically be slower than an Open-weight rower simply due to size and muscle mass.**

_6k race vs. 2k race:_** Race 6k's in the fall for long distance. Race 2k's in the spring for Sprints (arguably more important)**

_**2K Erg Test:_** Very important for competitive rowers! The indoor rowing machine gives the rower a quantitative time, telling how long it takes that rower to row 2000 meters (1 mile).  
-The bigger you are, theoretically the faster you should be. Imagine rowing a boat filled with 9 people. You have to be strong enough to pull the weight of yourself + the boat + everyone else.  
-Men average a time 1 minute faster than women (**ie. 6:00 & 7:00 are strong times for Collegiate Open-Weight; 6:25 & 7:25 are strong times for Collegiate Light-Weights**)  
-Open-weight rowers are heavier and range about 30 seconds faster than a Light-weight counterpart.  
-Coxswains don't row/work-out the amount rowers do and would be expected to have slow 2k's**

**Alright.. I hope this is helpful and not too overwhelming! Thanks for reading!**


	8. First Race

**Chapter 8**

Immediately upon getting to the entrance of the bus door, Anna took a deep breath and exhaled with a smile. She just adored the Fall! The early October air was crisp and cool. The trees were painted in warm oranges, reds and yellows. The weather was just cool enough to wear a light hoodie. Oh it was so invigorating. She couldn't have asked for a better first race day.

Happily, she hopped off the travel bus with her big crew bag all packed with spare clothes, snacks and homework. She saw where a pile of bags were getting stacked and eagerly entered the mass of people. Just as she dropped her duffle bag into the massive bag pile, preparing to head over to the team's tent, she heard her name. She looked behind her and saw her Doubles partner walking toward their team's boat trailer, the opposite direction of the tent. Anna spun on her heel, adjusting her trajectory.

She hurried after the Senior, yanking up her baggy sweatpants as she did._ Honestly, wearing our spandex unis under sweats is disastrous. Our clothes always slide down! _It was a rule though. When they weren't doing something rowing related, everyone had to stay covered up in sweats while wearing the 'royal garment of unification'. Wearing sweats was more so a rule during the fall to make sure the rowers and coxswains stayed warm between races. T-shirts were optional if the rowers didn't want a sweatshirt.

When she reached the massive trailer truck, she saw Elsa grabbing boat slings and setting them up, a drying towel hanging off her shoulder. She found it rather amusing seeing Elsa in the required AU sweatpants and t-shirt. Anna had seen the blonde in spandex shorts, jeans, and suit pants. But she couldn't help but grin and giggle at the slightly unkempt look that the sweats gave her.

Elsa heard Anna's amusement and looked down at herself. She frowned and rolled her eyes, realizing why Anna was laughing. "Hah hah. Elsa in sweats. I get it." She threw the towel at Anna's face. "Now come on, we need to rig the boat now. Our race is in an hour and a half."

Anna's giggles stopped and her jaw dropped at the new information, already moving to gather their metal boat riggers and tool kit. "Seriously? An hour and a half?"

"Yep. Get a move on." Elsa said as they got their hands on their boat, preparing to move it into the holding slings. Once the boat was nestled in the slings, both women began attaching the riggers to their seats. "We have Weigh-In in 10 minutes, then we'll do a quick jog to warm up before we launch." Elsa nodded her head toward the docks and boathouse that were located a short ways down the road, slightly occluded by other teams' tents and trailers.

Anna noted that some boats, presumably in the first race were, already getting Hands On and going down to the river.

As Anna worked to put the riggers on the boat, she worked to formulate her words. "Um Elsa, 2 questions." The blonde glanced up, some of her loose bangs falling around her porcelain face. "Why do we have Weigh-In for a fall race?"

Elsa finished tightening her last bolt, placing her boat wrench back in the tool box. "This race requires the Light-weights to be checked. You need to be under 130lbs for us to qualify.." Her blue eyes did a suspicious sideways glance at the redhead.

Anna laughed. "Don't look so worried. I didn't fill up on 4 double cheeseburgers or anything." She stuck her tongue out at the blonde. "I checked my scale last night just in case. I'll clock in somewhere around 125lbs."

"Good." Elsa almost sounded slightly impressed at Anna's initiative. "Hurry up and let's go over."

It made Anna grin as she finished tightening her last rigger as well. Anna tossed the wrench back in the tool box and turned back to the older woman and-_damn.._ Where the tall rower had previously been standing, she was now bent down, removing her dark AU sweatpants. She gracefully stepped out of the bulky fabric, exposing her muscled, yet creamy legs. Anna quickly brought her eyes up as Elsa swiftly pulled her t-shirt off in one fluid motion.

_Holy. _

_Shit._

The remaining one piece spandex hugged every curve just right, starting up at Elsa's exposed collar bone and hugging her body down to mid-thigh. It easily displayed her definition better than any of her other spandex clothes. Anna didn't care that she was openly gawking at the sight. It was just too much. _Why the Hell was Elsa allowed to look so hot in the most unflattering thing ever created? That's like not even fair!_

She realized the blonde looking back at her. That damn refined smile was gracing her lips and her eyes were.. mildly amused? _Oh god. She finds this funny._. "Now, what was question 2?" she asked politely, gathering her extra clothes and putting them onto the trailer bed.

Anna struggled to gather her thoughts, but ended up slowly shrugging her shoulders. She nervously smiled up at the taller woman. Her nerves were a mix of embarrassment from gawking in such a pervy manner, as well as possibly forgetting something kind of important..

"Erm.. I didn't bring my sneakers.." She scuffed her feet, bringing Elsa's eyes down. Those obnoxious green Crocs poked out beneath Anna's baggy, purple sweat pants. She waited for the expected scolding.

"That was not a question." Elsa looked up at her again, blank faced. At Anna's innocent face, she only sighed lightly while turning toward the boathouse. "Let's just go get weighed-in and deal with that after."

It was barely 7 am. Looked like even the Ice Queen couldn't handle Anna's shenanigans before a certain hour.

…

With the Double safely tied back on the trailer truck rack, the two rowers started heading toward their team. Their race hadn't been great.. not even good, really. Anna still was having trouble adjusting to the rhythm of stroke seat, despite the full month of rigorous practice. It was just so hard. Sur, if you wanted to be fast, it mattered whether a boat was strong. But if the stroke seat constantly fumbled and ruined their rowing synchrony, then the boat ended up being slow anyway.

She felt awful, knowing that it aggravated the Senior. She could tell by Elsa's silence after they crossed the finish line that the Senior wasn't happy. She didn't even have to see her face. The tension just radiated off of her tired form.. So Anna opted not to talk in fear of setting Elsa off and.. yeesh! She chose to keep quiet until the blonde was well collected and ready to talk.

As they walked back to their team tent, Anna couldn't help but feel eyes on her. She curiously dared a glance up at the blonde woman noticing that, indeed, Elsa's dark eyes pointed right at her. Anna looked to the side nervously, then back. What was she staring at? Her fingers flew to her face, rubbing around her mouth.

"What? Do I have spit stains?" she asked, beginning to wipe away any residue that could possibly be on her face. She knew she got occasional spit stains while coxing, constantly shouting into the wind. It could happen rowing too.

But the blonde shook her head, pausing in her movement and pointing toward Anna's hair. "What's this?" The first thing Elsa had said to her since the start of the 3 mile race, and that was it?

Anna stopped, watching as curious Sapphire eyes focused in on the one area of her hair. She felt heat rush to her cheeks. The way Elsa had asked, and the way she'd paused to point, reminded her completely of when Hans did the same.

Memories of the embarrassing happiness she felt when Hans complimented her stirred in her gut. The thought of Elsa mentioning the streak made her cheeks heat substantially. Hans had said he liked her hair. What if Elsa said she liked it…? Suddenly those small butterflies she felt weeks ago with Hans were now the size of birds flapping around in her stomach.

"Oh," she said dumbly. Anxiously she brushed an invisible strand of red behind her ear. Always with the nervous tick. "I was born with it, but I dreamt I was kissed by trolls." Elsa's brought her face even closer to examine the lock of hair. Anna didn't even realize she'd brought both of her hands up to play nervously with the one braid. Her teal eyes closed, expectantly waiting for Elsa's tender words to follow..

"Ah, a Mallen Streak."

That… was not the response she had expected. Her eyes fluttered open and blinked dumbly at the ground as she processed the words. Of course. Leave it to Elsa to provide a textbook response. What had Anna even been thinking? Elsa wasn't a romantic type. Wait, she had absolutely no reason to be! _Especially _to Anna.. But it still made those birds stop flapping in her stomach. She shook her head trying to clear the thoughts. Anna really _really_ needed to figure out what on Earth was going on with her recent onslaught of thoughts toward Elsa. _Get a grip._

Finally her eyes looked up again, and realized the space beside her was empty. Elsa was nowhere to be seen. How does she always do that?

"Anna!" The redhead turned toward the female voice. She saw her Captain waving near the boat trailer. "Could you quickly help me with some oars?"

Despite the growing hunger in her stomach, Anna nodded and bounded over to the 1st Varsity boat rower. Mulan just needed Anna to hold down a stack of eight oars while she strapped them tightly onto the truck bed. It took barely a minute. Mulan smiled and thanked the tiny redhead. "So how was your first race of the day?"

Anna's shoulders slumped slightly. "It could have been better.. Elsa didn't even want to have a boat meeting about it. I guess it explains how she felt." At Anna's slightly down tone, the taller rower patted her shoulder.

"Don't worry about that. She's just a competitive soul. Your next races can only improve." She grinned, offering the positive note. "You'll do great in the Mens-4 race this afternoon."

The assured tone brought a determined smile to her freckled face. Mulan was right. She knew Elsa hadn't expected them to win, regardless of wanting to. But that didn't mean that they couldn't improve. And she was sure her boys were prepared. "Yeah. I just have to work even harder!" And she would work harder to make their Double more competitive.

Anna's stomach decided to voice its agreement too. Or maybe it wanted to voice something else.

"Let's go get some food in your stomach," Mulan laughed pointing back toward the team's food tent. Anna couldn't argue with that. The two started walking when another collegiate girls team came jogging by. After they'd passed, Anna heard a low whistle from beside her. "Wow, look at the booties on those cuties, am I right?" Anna's teal eyes widened, looking at her senior Captain.

Mulan simply smirked at the teen and continued on her way back to the team's tent. Anna took a moment before dumbly following the older woman. _So… Mulan's gay? She likes girls. Okay. Yeah, that's cool._ She chuckled to herself. Anna kept up her pace, coming in step beside the Asian woman and they talked in an easy conversation. _To each their own, right?_

…

Anna's second race felt so much faster than the first. Maybe it was because she was coxing it instead of actually rowing, or maybe her men's Four was just insanely fast. Whatever the reason, she was happy to finish up her day's fill of racing. They had taken 3rd, all five of them being awarded a bronze medal by the officials after they arrived at the docks. The four men lined up behind Anna as they posed for a group picture to celebrate a great first race. Some photos were serious, but most were goofy. She posed for some with just Hans, and when she thought they were finally done, Flynn made a suggestion to lift their coxswain up, which Anna immediately argued.

The next photos snapped on their coach's camera were of Anna being lifted up onto one of Marshal's shoulders. She stared at the massive boy in shock at the strength. Some more photos were taken and laughs were shared. But once the excitement died down, the boys all rushed to the food table to eat some well deserved nourishment. Anna, on the other hand, knew her down time meant it was study time.

She hurried behind the food table to where all of the crew bags were stacked up (after taking a moment to stuff some chocolate dessert into her face). She saw a couple of other students sitting around on blankets, either doing homework or reading. At the farthest reaches of the group, occluded by a stack of bags, was a faint detail of platinum hair. Anna grabbed her Polish notebook and ran over.

Elsa was covered in her mandatory sweats again, curled up with a book. Still a surreal look for the always sophisticated woman. She looked up as the redhead approached with her notebook and greeted her. Anna watched those dark eyes lazily slip down to her chest.

"Nice medal," she said softly, eyeing the bronze dangling at Anna's neck. The redhead thanked her and gave a bashful smile while sitting down at her side. She left a decent amount of space between their bodies, trying to respect the blonde's massive personal space bubble. However, it seemed that once Elsa transitioned into Tutor mode, said bubble became much smaller.

Elsa scooted a little closer to the teenager, looking down at the homework that Anna had begun to work on. Anna had to pull her head back a little to give the blonde's head some more accessibility. She sniffed, a little distracted while Elsa read the work. _Her hair smells like snow.._

Finally, Elsa pointed to a line that Anna had already attempted. "Almost.. You wrote 'John is food' instead of 'John eats food'." Anna could almost hear a little humor in her tone. "Just fix this to '_je_'."

Anna did her best to focus on the blonde's instructions. She went about erasing the conjugation, but struggled keeping her attention on the paper and off her tutor. Elsa was sitting so close to her. It was different to be in such close proximity, aside from Anna's spastic hug the previous afternoon. But it was a good different.

She smiled to herself, filling in the correct answer on the line. She looked up with expectant eyes at the rower seated beside her. Elsa looked at the writing and nodded. She pointed to a similar error also needing conjugation and Anna quickly fixed it.

"Thanks-er I mean.. _dzie_.. _dziekuju_?"

"_Dziękuję_."

"_Dziękuję!_"

"_Tak_." Elsa nodded in affirmation. "_Bardzo dobrze, Anna_."

Anna beamed at what she could only take as encouragement and continued working. She could quickly get used to having Elsa as her own personal tutor. The foreign language was already feeling easier. As she scribbled down some more simple sentences, she watched the blonde out of the corner of her eye. Elsa had now pulled a textbook from her crew bag and set it on her lap, flipping open to a tabbed page.

Anna watched her for a moment, finding the blonde's reading face so amusing. She was so concentrated. It was really cute. The thought made her blush, dropping her eyes down to the textbook, spying it. It looked like it had numbers in it.. Maybe it was for a math class. Was Elsa a math major?

Anna searched her mind for an answer but came up short. Just when she thought she was getting to know her partner, she realized she still didn't know anything about her. Not even her major! A game of 20 questions suddenly became a much more tempting activity than completing her homework..

…

"We've been rowing together for like a month and it's like I don't even know her," Anna said as she leaned her head against the bark of the oak tree. It had been a few days since the regatta, but the incessant thought wouldn't go away. She lulled her head to the side, hearing a 'hmmm' come from beside her. "Do you think I'm weird for caring?"

The blond man seated next to her shook his head. He brushed away a stray leaf that had fallen onto the page before putting down his sketchbook. "You should talk to Flynn." His brown eyes found her face. "They went to high school together ya know."

Anna's brows shot up sending Kristoff an incredulous stare. "Uh no. I did not know." She eventually smiled when Kristoff chuckled, but it faltered as she really considered it. "Do you think he'd actually tell me anything?"

Kristoff smirked. "Hmm maybe you could negotiate a price.. like a date with-"

"-Shut up Kristoff!" came a female voice from the other side of the tree. Anna turned her head to the voice and watched Rapunzel's heated cheeks puff up in annoyance. The little chameleon on her shoulder was a matching shade of red as his flustered owner.

With a laugh, Anna packed up her bag. "I need to pay Flynn a little visit." As she stood up and brushed off her jeans, she gazed around campus. "Do you know where he might be right now?"

"Probably near the Finance building," said Rapunzel offhandedly. Curious brown and teal eyes fell on the long haired blonde. Rapunzel shrugged under their suspicious eyes. "It's just a guess because he's a finance major... stop looking at me like that! Gawd!"

After a laugh, Anna immediately headed off in that direction. Once she reached the Finance building, she did not have to look for long. Her ears caught sign of the Junior captain before her eyes did. His flirtatious and partially cocky voice could be heard for miles. His cologne could definitely be smelt as far down as the Southern Isles. She approached the brunette who was chatting with some girls Anna didn't recognize. She stepped up and offered a small wave. He looked at the freshman and smiled.

"Hey Anna. What's up?"

"Um, could I talk to you for like a moment? It's uh.. sorta about rowing and stuff.." she said, trying to not seem too sketchy about her true intentions.

The brunette looked curious but nodded. "Well ladies, my little woman needs me." He stood with a grin as the girls swooned at his departure. He was soon at her side and they started walking through the campus green.

"So what's buggin' ya kiddo?" he said, tossing the freckled girl a softer smile.

Anna scratched the back of her head anxiously. "Uh.. well.. It may seem kind of random, but Kristoff said you may be able to help."

"Ah.. want to dig up some dirt on your boyfriend?" he chuckled, referencing his best buddy.

She looked up into his expectant hazel eyes. He simply nodded for her to continue. She took a breath. "Um actually.. Can you tell me about Elsa?"

That was a little surprising. Anna noted his brows raised for a brief instant. Obviously it was not what the young man was expecting, but before Anna could start her rampant apologetic rant, he smiled. "Of course. I suppose you want information from high school then," he stated, more than asked.

Anna nodded fervently as the thought of a teenage Elsa came to mind. The brunette looked to the sky, lazily slowing his pace.

"Man, good ol' days.. In high school we were mainly friends from crew, but we got a long well. It may be hard to believe but she wasn't always so icy. Isolated, yes. She was never the social type. But she was always sweet when she was put in social situations." His smile was fond and Anna felt her heart swell at the endearing words. She nodded in understanding, easily recognizing how different Elsa acted around her in the academic setting.

"She didn't go out, ever. She couldn't," he continued, scratching his chin scruff. "She was always studying to keep her grades up. Her parents didn't accept her desire to row, regardless of knowing how much potential she had to be a great rower. They basically shunned her power. From what I know, they struck a deal. She could row if she kept up her grades. Otherwise they wouldn't allow it.

"Same thing goes for Arendelle. I guess they refused to pay her tuition if she didn't get straight A's, putting rowing first instead." He immediately caught Anna's intention to interrupt about her family's status. "-And before you say anything, yes, the Winters are the richest family in Scandinavia. Rich Pigs won't even spare a cent toward a sport their daughter loves." He turned to Anna.

She looked incredulous. "That's absurd!"

"They don't want her distracted. Something about taking on the family business one day kinda stereotype," he said casually as a side note. Anna furrowed her brow at that statement. Distracted.. So that's what Elsa meant. If anything caused interference with her grades and rowing then she'd have to give up the sport she loves more than anything, or else lose her parents' help. "This may be a start to answer some questions you may have about her passion for rowing."

Anna nodded slowly, a wave of understanding coming over her. Many of the previous quirks she'd been confused about now made sense. The Single 'obsession' was because of her passion for a sport that she was criticized for enjoying. A passion that would be withheld from her because of her inconsiderate parents. Elsa tried so hard just to keep rowing at AU. Her isolation from everyone was probably spent in the library, studying everything she could possibly learn.

"How did you learn all this?" she quietly asked after a moment.

Flynn chuckled. "We got pretty drunk the night before she left for university. She told me everything about her parents' concerns and their controlling behavior, how they metaphorically locked her away. I shared my stories as well, and _I never_ do back stories. We'd never felt closer than that night." He smiled distantly at the memory while Anna let out a little 'aww'.

They were both smiling, but then he frowned a little. "But when I arrived at AU, she was a different person. It was gradual, but that sweet shut-in I'd known became distant to the world, _obsessed_ with training. She steadily got colder.. overly critical of herself and others.. Just about the Elsa you know now."

Anna could swear she saw him shake his head in annoyance.

"But I blame her girlfriend for that." _Wait…what...her what? _"Personally, from the start I thought they were a bad match. Not a healthy relationship. But, again, my opinion to keep to myself." _Elsa has a girlfriend?!_

Anna had to stop her reeling thoughts to even process what Flynn was saying by that point.

Elsa has a girlfriend? A relationship? She's gay? Why hadn't Anna heard about any of this? Weren't they at least close enough to share this information at this point? Elsa knew about Hans, so Anna should know this too. She was offended that Elsa hadn't mentioned this fact in all the time they'd spent together.. Why did it kind of hurt to hear this too?

"O-oh?" she said quietly, after she'd realized been quiet for far too long. Missing the quiver in her voice, Flynn just offered a shrug. God, she wanted to know more, so much more, but she wasn't sure how to start asking. She wasn't sure she even should.

The two strolled in silence a little while longer until the large oak tree came into her view. She spotted her two blonde friends still sitting beneath it. There was a nudge at her elbow, and she looked up to see Flynn eyeing the tree. She followed his gaze straight to Rapunzel.

"So, uh.. I told you about Elsa's high school stuff… mind telling me a bit about Rapunzel's?" Anna processed his tone. It wasn't that cocky, Flynn Ryder tone she'd become accustomed to listening to over the weeks. It sounded a little unsure. Was the great Flynn Ryder nervous? With a cocked eyebrow Anna chuckled.

"I'll tell you a little while we walk over there." She eyed the seated pair who were both working on art sketches. "But then you have to talk to her when we sit down. _You_ should be asking her about her life, not me."

"I say the same to _you_."

Anna flinched at the words, realizing this was true. She knew from that point on she'd need to talk to Elsa. She'd need to hear it straight from the source, and hopefully it'd mean Elsa wanted to tell her. Anna smiled thinking about the possibility of seeing that day.

Flynn's smug smile was gone quickly, replaced with a hopeful smile. Anna took a breath to begin her stories.

"So you've never heard someone scream bloody murder until Rapunzel's chameleon crawled into our teacher's hair…"

…

"Go get the oars," Elsa said at their following Friday practice. She went to move the boat down the dock to make space for a docking eight.

"Aye Aye." Anna said, skipping to grab the oars. She looked at the four long poles and thought to herself. _I bet I could carry them all in one trip. I've been working out enough._ And she had. Even before their race, Anna had been tagging along with Rapunzel every night to lift weights to try to get stronger. She was feeling stronger than ever now.

She hauled the four oars together and proceeded to lift them up. Light as a feather! Then she turned to walk back to the boat and realized that although carrying the objects may have felt easy, but the angle of the upright 9ft. poles made the task nearly impossible.

She stepped back, trying to catch an oar that slid through her grasp, causing a hollow clanking from the other ones clashing. "Whoah!" Finally, she gathered the equipment again and looked up to Elsa. Anna let out a hesitant laugh. "I'm okay!"

Elsa only looked minorly irritated as she rolled her eyes. Anna could visibly tell that, as they spent more time together, Elsa was getting frequently less and less bothered by her quirks. And this wasn't just during their now once-a-week tutor sessions, but at crew too. She actually seemed to be less icy and even more receptive to what Anna had to say. Progress!

"So we've been doing a lot of long pieces lately," Elsa said casually as she knelt to open her oarlock. "I figured we could do a sprint pace today. We'll see what your stroke can get up to-"

"-Actually Elsa, I seriously think we need to reconsider our seating for Sunday's race," Anna said ignoring Elsa's words. She crossed her arms standing next to the Double after she put down the oars. The boat bobbed gently against the dock as the two rowers prepared for their daily afternoon practice. For a moment, she let herself hope that maybe, just maybe, Elsa would give up the commanding bow seat position.

The taller woman smoothly blew off the interruption. "No matter how many times you ask, it will make no difference."

Anna would not be so easily deterred. Mulan's word of encouragement from the race still stuck with her. She had been training harder than before and trying to figure out ways that could make them a better Double. Sure, Elsa listened to Anna's ideas more, but it didn't seem to stop her from continuously shooting down every suggestion.

"I just want us to be more competitive."

"If you want it that bad, then you work harder and improve."

Anna narrowed her eyes, feeling offended by the remark. "We both have to get competitive, and not just with the other teams. We need to work together and get stronger." Anna threw her arm toward Elsa. "Do you _even care_?" Elsa finished placing her oar in the oarlock and slammed the lock shut. She stood up and took a step toward the shorter girl. Anna gulped at that change in proximity. She was immediately dwarfed under Elsa's height.

"I'm plenty strong," she said sternly. She raised her index finger to Anna's chest. "But as long as I have a coxswain as my partner, there's no point in fussing. You'll never have the power to even begin thinking about competition. Let alone being _my _competition." She mockingly laughed at the absurdity.

"My 2k's a 7:22."

Elsa froze, laugh quickly dying in her throat. She brought her eyes to Anna's face, searching for any signs of jest. She was only met with serious teal eyes. Something flashed across Elsa's face in that instant. She suddenly looked contemplative, the previous annoyance washing away from her face. It was replaced with slowly growing interest. Maybe even a little astonishment.

Anna stood her ground, jaw clenched tight under the scrutiny. She swallowed hard, surprised she'd just admitted her personal record time. Discussing your 2k time was like discussing salaries. It was a taboo. Rowers didn't do it unless necessary. Granted, because she was a coxswain by trade, Anna knew that little was expected of her power.

Yet Anna had a natural strength, throwing heavy sculptures around and climbing rock walls as a kid. She was powerful as a lightweight rower. This was why she never mentioned it. This was the first time she'd ever disclosed the actual quantitative number to anyone. She never told anyone she had even erged a 2k time.

But it was the last thing she could think of to get Elsa's attention.

And it seemed to work.

The blonde hadn't said a word, still processing and analyzing the information. At long last, she ran a hand through her wavy bangs, and let out a heavy breath. "Very well," she said, lifting her chin in a challenging display. "If you want to be competitive, then we start more intensive training." Anna let out a shaky breath, proud of herself for standing her ground. "As for switching seats.." Elsa smirked as Anna's eyes grew hopeful. "My answer is still no."

**-End Chapter 8-**

**A.N. Starting to fill in those elusive blanks in the story, while Anna is just ever so oblivious.**

**Just letting everyone know I'm in summer classes now, so I'll be taking my time with the story. Probably do the weekly update thing. I'd rather the chapters be of good quality than rush to get them out. **

**I have solid amount written so far for the future chapters. It'll stretch probably between 20-25 chapters depending on how much fluff I wanna throw in down the line (who doesn't love the fluff? Especially after these beginning chapters!).**

**Again, thank you all for reading!**


	9. Pinky Swear

**Chapter 9**

"Is it hard to motivate yourself in the Single?" Anna broke the silence as the two women took a break in-between their pieces.

They had been rowing together for almost 2 full months now, and this question was literally eating her up. Well, this one, and _another_ question specifically in regards to Elsa's personal life. The relationship part of her personal life. But that question was not one Anna knew how to bring up.. nor was she sure she even should. So it was totally acceptable that Anna at least ask this, noninvasive one.

And Anna truly was impressed. The blonde was out on the water in the early mornings, doing the entire workout solo while everyone else worked in their team boats. Anna didn't know if she herself could do that. Being left alone to the confines of her own mind, out in the middle of the deep water... "Ya know. Especially since you're rowing must be flawless by now."

Although she couldn't see the blonde, Anna knew she was mulling over the question. As she waited for Elsa's delayed response, she took a sip of her water, ignoring the shiver that went down her spine as the late October chill nipped at her skin.

"There's always something new to work on. Always something new to conquer." Elsa tilted her head back a bit, rolling it side to side to release the tension built up in her toned shoulders. Her voice was quieter than normal when addressing Anna's question. It was still full of strength and resilience, yet was as soft as a wistful dream. It was so surprising that it made the redhead turn more around to see the bow seat woman. Those blue orbs looked at her. They harbored the sincere passion Elsa held of the sport. "_That's_ what keeps me going."

Anna nodded, fully appreciating the open and honest response. "That's awesome.." she replied softly with a smile. After a second's hesitation, Elsa seemed to steal herself away from the moment, falling back in to her typical emotionless state.

"Yes. Well, there's always something to work on.. like you and learning how to stroke. Though that may be a farfetched goal." Anna cringed at the suddenly sardonic tone directed at her.

All she had tried to do was get Elsa to open up to her. She just wanted an attempt at being civil after their little argument on the docks yesterday. Yet leave it to Elsa to criticize every little detail whenever given the chance. Why couldn't Anna get to row with Elsa's encouraging, warm tutor side? It wasn't fair.

_Whatever. Even if she finally thinks we can be more competitive as rowers, she still won't listen to me. _Anna was thankful she had already turned back around, or else Elsa would have scolded her for making a disgruntled face.

In that moment, they heard the buzz of a motor as a launch drove up beside them. Both rowers looked up at the man at the wheel.

"Yoo hoo! Hi ladies." Both women greeted their massive, muscular coach.

"Hey coach. What're you doing out here?" Anna asked, curious as to why the varsity coach stayed on the water after this Saturday morning row. She and Elsa usually did their (painful) follow-up practice when the Novice rowers came out.

He thoughtfully rubbed his spongy beard. "I am assisting with Coach Weselton. But I couldn't help but catch some of your practice." He hugged his fleece coat to himself, feeling a chilly wind.

Becoming increasingly ignorant of the chill, Anna did a quick glance over her shoulder to the blonde. Then she looked back up to the man. There was something in the way he said his words, and it certainly wasn't chalked up to the breeze. "Oh..?"

"Mhm. Your practice looks good!" He moved his launch so he was facing them directly. He lifted a bear-like hand and motioned with his fingers between the women. "But I think it would be better if you two switched seats."

Anna had to stifle a squeak of excitement as Elsa let out a painfully unhappy groan. Coach Oaken was always on her side when it came to these things. They worked like a 'show Elsa she's wrong and Anna's right' kind of tag team. At least in Anna's eyes. It was awesome.

"What a _great idea_, coach!" While the blonde glared a hole into Anna's back, the redhead ignored it and gave a thumbs up. Practices were going to be so great from here on out.

Coach Oaken just stared at them though. Anna simply stared back. What was he waiting for?

"So… are you going to switch?"

Oh. Switch..now? Like right now on the water? Switching seats on the water meant they had to..

Oh boy..

She gulped, turning over her shoulder to look at the petulant child that was her Doubles partner. Elsa did not look happy. At all. Completely and utterly annoyed by all the factors impacting their situation in that moment. Her expression basically screamed 'I hate you so much'. Anna mouthed an apology that was stubbornly refused.

Both rowers knew what they were expected to do.

Those dark blue eyes fell to their owner's foot stretchers. Elsa shook her head as she released her feet from their laced binds. Slowly, holding her oars with one hand, Elsa brought her feet beneath her body in a squat position. She looked at the freckle faced girl who was still watching over an equally freckled shoulder. In one last attempt to maintain some satisfaction of command, Elsa spoke first.

"I'm top."

Yep. Those were the actual words. No mishearing there. Anna had switched seats in a crew boat before and knew full well of the 'top and bottom' drill. Her cheeks flushed at the double meaning of the words, and she cursed her brain for letting her mind go down such a perverted track. But come on! There was absolutely no reason why Elsa needed to say the words with such a low, somewhat saucy tone..

Oh god, Anna had to lie down. _Well, this works perfectly actually._

With closed eyes, Anna laid back in the narrow shell of their boat, one hand holding her oars, the other reaching to grasp Elsa's oars. In that moment the blonde leaned forward, hands and toes supporting her weight upon the thin, side gunnels of the boat. She began to skillfully inch her way up into the stern, with that poise and grace that only Elsa possessed.

The younger girl was trying her absolute hardest not to look up. No matter how many times she'd had bodies climb over her before, this particular proximity with this_ particular person_ was overwhelmingly flustering. But a tiny part of her, the curious part, gnawed its way through her consciousness. And her resolve broke. Her teal eyes peaked open, just as the blonde was moving over her.

Those dark blue orbs were immediately drawn to the fluttering of Anna's eye lashes. Loose platinum locks fell around her upside down face. Elsa's usually pale skin looked darker in shadow, causing dusty freckles to become more prominent. Same with her eyes, the occasional sparkle cloaked by shadow. Those sapphire orbs were now a dark, mysterious abyss. An abyss she could stare into forever.

Anna wasn't sure how long they watched each other, but it certainly wasn't forever. It really couldn't have been more than 4 seconds. Elsa hurriedly broke the contact to finish her trip forward into the stroke seat.

As the blonde's face disappeared, Anna figured she'd be all set to collect herself. Get a breather. However, Anna's luck was never that great. How could she forget that Elsa's face was just the start?

She did all she could to fight the rush of blood to her face when she found the rest of the rower's anatomy come dangerously close to her face. She'd never taken notice of Elsa's body quite like this before, nor any other girls' for that matter. But honestly, Elsa happened to have just about the most perfect anatomy of any human being. Ever. To the point that it was unfair.

Anna finally deemed that all of her (pervy) thoughts stemmed from body-envy. It made enough sense as to why she was gawking at the athletic woman so often. Why else would she stare at a girl's chest? Especially when wrapped in a tight, spandex top.. inches above her face.. and it was cold so…

It felt like an eternity had passed by the time both rowers had successfully switched their seats, while in reality it was maybe 3 minutes tops. Anna was barely conscious as the rest of the blonde traversed above her, thankful to finally get a break from her mind. But now, seated behind the taller woman in the bow, Anna realized her thoughts weren't so easily controllable.

Now Elsa sat in her full view. Those amazingly sculpted shoulders she'd admired since day 1 were on display. And they looked even more defined beneath the spandex tank top. _That same spandex tank top that was just in my face_. How on Earth was she expected to get that image of perfect human anatomy (boobs) constrained in a tight, spandex shirt out of her head? Simple. She wasn't. Life was cruel.

Anna gripped her oar handles tighter than required, turning to align their boat. Once she had a point, she turned away, clearing her throat and assuming her usual commanding position.

"Ready.. row!"

…

Gold, Silver and Bronze.

No Arendelle University boats ranked less than that. After an absolutely magnificent regatta Saturday, the AU crew team was rewarded with Sunday off. At least for most of the crew. While the other team members were sound asleep in their beds, resting their weary muscles, two rowers agreed to do a relaxing morning practice.

The Sunday morning air was chilled, but the calm breeze reflected the relaxed atmosphere on the water. Their blades cut into the glass-like river, causing a swoosh of water to trail as the blades sent away. Over and over, the motion was repeated. Cut. Swoosh…. Cut. Swoosh….. The Double easily glided through the still river. The row was so fluid.

Every 5 strokes, Anna would tilt her head behind her, double checking that she was still on point and not about to collide with the shoreline or another rower. And, of course, she was always perfect.

Although she was a terrible mess in the stern, steering in the bow was her specialty. Her steering precision was something she prided herself with. After Coach Oaken had switched their seats, she could only predict they'd do better.

And if their last two weekend races were of any proof, she could happily say they had improved tenfold!

They dropped a full minute off of their first race time. It was unheard of! In yesterday's race, they were edged into 2nd place by only 7 seconds. Anna just hoped that at least some of this incredible success was going to impress her Double's partner.

"You need to learn to steer off the bow," came the disgruntled voice in front of her. The redhead cocked an eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she huffed, annoyed that her enjoyable trance was broken.

The blonde easily kept her steady, stroking pace while she responded firmly, "It is _supposed to mean_ that every time you turn around, our set is thrown off."

Teal eyes widened. _What the hell?_ Not once had their balance been disturbed by her turning around. Hell, in that practice she had only felt their blades unwillingly scrape the water twice (if that!). Whatever. No matter what Elsa said, they both knew they'd substantially improved their rowing ever since they switched seats. So Anna chalked the critique up to Elsa's perfectionist attitude.

Instead of letting out a retort as she normally would, Anna decided to listen to the blonde's advice. As they were technically training without coach instruction, she figured she should at least listen to the Senior rower.. Also because Elsa had become more receptive to Anna's input about them getting better. Anna respectfully had to honor the same. She shouldn't fight the critique. At this point, they needed to work together. To trust each other.

That thought made Anna sigh inwardly, frustrated with herself that she'd even thought to question any of Elsa's technique advice.

With a steadying breath, Anna turned her head as she pressed back to drive her blade through the water. She pointed toward the old Arendelle Cathedral in the distance. She double checked there was no rower occluding her path on the open water. After she was sure she had the point, she whipped her head around lining her view off of the stern, just above Elsa's head. _Got it_.

They took some more strokes. Anna had to fight the urge to turn her head after the 5th stroke. _Line up off of the stern point. You got this. _They continued on for about 10 more strokes before Anna finally gave in to her anxiety and turned around. No other rowers in sight. Her point was still on! She had to admit that their boat's run did feel a lot smoother with her not tilting around as often. She felt herself grin proudly at acquiring the new skill. _Better late than never!_

She continued practicing this technique until they finished the work out near the docks. When they came to a stop, Anna aligned with the dock and waited for some ducks to swim out of her way. She tsked at aquatic birds. Adorable little guys always wanted to swim in the way.

As Anna waited, choosing to examine a new big blister bubbling on her palm, Elsa turned her head around over her shoulder. Anna glanced up from her palm. A small smirk graced the blonde's lips, silently saying 'I told you so'. Anna gave a sheepish smile that equally answered back 'You were right'.

When they had packed up at the empty boathouse and taken their usual stop at Anna's bike, Elsa turned to the freckled teen. "Nice work. I think we'll be ready for the last race next Sunday."

Anna beamed at the compliment, knowing any compliment from Elsa that regarded rowing meant a lot. One more week and they would show what they were made of. If Elsa said they'd be ready, how could Anna question that?

And now it was time to bike back, go stuff her face with breakfast, curl up in her bed, and pass out. She had withdrawn her metal transportation in a swift movement and was soon flying out of the parking lot.

…

Sure it was stupid of her to run a red light.

But she was technically only making a right-hand turn on her bike.

And it was still on the early side of Sunday morning so the streets were barren.

Nah. It wasn't a big deal.

The one-way street had always appeared wide enough on her usual morning rides back to campus anyway. Anna briskly cut the corner down the side-street .

It was only when she was almost aligned down the street that she spotted the car simultaneously driving through the intersection along her left side. The small car was immediately in her peripheral, appearing much faster than she could react to. The unexpected movement sent Anna's brain reeling into a panic. Then her elbow grazed the metal of the car's passenger door, tilting her of kilter. The change of equilibrium made her hands quickly react in a primal manner, turning her front wheel away.. now pointing toward the sidewalk.

The next thing Anna knew, her peddle clanked, _hard_, against the sidewalk ridge, throwing her completely off-balance. The jolt sent her foot off the pedal and her body weight fell into her handlebars, knocking the wind from her lungs. She watched, horrified, as the pavement hurtled towards her, throwing an arm over her face at the last moment. She barely stifled a scream as the rough road scraped against her exposed knee and forearm. The metal of her bike clanged beside her, landing on top of her foot.

Her helmet only briefly clunked on the cement, her arm absorbing most of the impact that could have been to her face.

To say the stinging was brutally painful was a terrible understatement. With jaw clenched tight, she grinded down hard against her teeth. Anna tried to ignore it, wanting to move the weight from her leg since she found the bike's presence most irritating. But the task was daunting. Her brain had barely made orientation of the world around her, let alone the pain. She sucked in a harsh breath, feeling tears squeeze through her eyelids.

In her weak struggles, she didn't realize the now parked sedan a few feet up the road. She also didn't notice the slam of a car door and fast patter of gravel beneath running feet.

"Oh my God, Anna," came a voice that was quickly above her. Anna startled at the oh so familiar voice. Why did it have to be her? Always her? "What the Hell is wrong with you?!"

Her teal eyes, already wet with pained tears, shot up to look at the blonde staring down at her with a pale and scared expression. Anna bit her lip hard, unable to fight her embarrassment amidst the shooting pain. She already felt like a general embarrassment in the eyes of her Doubles partner, and now there's this? She was such a fool. An embarrassing, blundering fool. Why did Elsa always witness her getting hurt? _Please don't think I'm dumb or weak. Please.._

When she shut her eyes in response to the abrupt question, she heard a shuffle of the _Salvatore Ferragamo_ shoes and then a presence at her side. The metal weight was lifted from her foot, and then cool hands came around her. The gentle hands moved her into a sitting position, gingerly avoiding her scrapes and supporting her battered form. She heard a soft sigh.

"This looks bad." Elsa's concerned voice made Anna blink open one, blurred eye, just to squint at the older girl. That tone was as unfamiliar as her tender touch. Her sapphire eyes were focused toward the smaller rower's knee, then arm, scanning and assessing the damage. The icy eyes Anna had grown accustomed to over the past two months were gone, replaced with pure concern. The sight dulled her senses, comforting her. Anna hadn't realized she had opened both eyes, openly staring at the blonde, until Elsa raised her head.

Anna yelped, feeling a cold hand brush some gravel chunks from her forearm. The dullness was instantly gone as the pain came back to the forefront of her mind. She squeezed her eyes closed again, dizzy from the entirety of the event. She felt the strong grip around her waist pull her to her feet. They started to hobble in the direction of the navy sedan. Elsa had mumbled something about taking her home to clean her up. Anna's cheeks reddened at those words, despite herself. She was having a hard time controlling anything with the searing pain still burning across her flesh.

After tucking a seat belt securely around the red head, careful to avoid the injured arm cradled in Anna's other hand, Elsa put down her backseat. She barely managed to squish the scuffed up bike inside. Didn't look like the tires were ruined at least. Anna lulled her head toward the driver's seat when she heard a door slam for the final time. She watched as the blonde started the engine, typical collected mask in place. Yet Elsa's eyes, the only window to her soul, appeared to still be filled with something else.

Anna couldn't fight the smile that crept onto her lips. She closed her eyes at the hum of the hybrid as they began their journey.

…

The otherwise quiet, studio apartment was filled with a harsh _hisss_ as Elsa pressed a medicated wipe across her partner's forearm. Anna bit down on her lip, stomping her feet up and down at the uncomfortable sensation. It was easily one of the more painful things she'd experienced in her life. Well, anything involving open wounds and antiseptics. She just had such bad track records.. Oye. Only a few more wipes and the last wound could be bandaged up to finally begin a healing process..

_Ow. Ow. Owowowow!_

"Oh shush," came the collected tone of the Senior. Oops. Anna couldn't even tell what she was keeping in her head or what was spewing from her mouth. Pain did that to the mind. "This can't nearly be as bad as the hand sanitizer on your blisters."

_What? _ Regardless of the resonating sting still coming from her body, Anna snapped her eyes toward the woman sitting on the footstool in front of her. "How did you hear about that?"

She was met with a light chuckle. Elsa turned into her medical kit, pulling out a sterile gauze pad, draping it over the gash. "Through the grape-vine." She had, what Anna considered, an oddly soft smile as she spoke.

"Flynn," both women said knowingly.

Elsa glanced up. Her blue eyes caught Anna's, and for a moment, there was a glimmer of mischief. So she was capable of humor after all. Anna made note to probe this later.

At Anna's thoughtful silence, Elsa simply pulled out some medical tape to finish her skilled care. She cradled Anna's tattered arm in her hand, wrapping the tape with the other. Her touch was so gentle that Anna felt a few small butterflies flutter in her stomach. She was certain she'd not mind this contact again.

Elsa had taken her time with the wrapping, slow and steady. After a few wraps around, Anna noticed the cool touch of fingers against her heated skin. The momentary contact sent a shiver up her arm. She fought the urge to tremble at the sensation, and succeeded in subduing it. That'd be embarrassing.

"Cold?"

Anna felt her cheeks blush. Before she could question it, she realized that her arm involuntarily was wracked with goosebumps. _Damn reflexes. Stop betraying me!_

"Uh, um. No. Just a little sensitive after the stinging," she mustered, tremble evident in her voice as Elsa snipped away the last of the tape. She noticed Elsa tilt her head up to look at her. Teal eyes averted quickly. Her cheeks felt so hot. She was ready for some jibe regarding her pain tolerance again. Something like 'How could a rower be so weak?' or 'How could her Doubles partner be at all worthy of competing with her when she couldn't even handle a bit of pain?'

The berating never came though. Instead, within the silence, Anna noticed the blonde's head move in her peripheral sight. Before she could turn to look at the woman's movement, she felt something else. A cool press against the taped gauze that reached up to her palm..

Her teal eyes snapped down to catch a quick visual that made her face somehow even hotter. A visual that stunned her into silence. Elsa had pressed the briefest of kisses against the injury and slowly retracted her head.

Her gentle, yet typically unreadable, features drained from her face as a realization set in. Elsa's cheeks flared as she stared, stunned, into Anna's lifted palm. The redhead could only assume her own cheeks matched the shell-shocked blonde's.

_Did she really just-yes. Why? Why would she do that? She-she never.. I.. she.. what!? Oh stop it Anna! Calm down. Calm down, dammit! It's an act of comfort. Everyone has a comforting side. God knows Elsa feels guilty for running your dumb ass over..._ _Oh just breathe!_

Elsa hurriedly tilted her head back to her medical kit, avoiding all eye contact. "S-sorry.." she mumbled while haphazardly shuffling with some bandages. Her displacement behavior was apparent and she rubbed her hands uncomfortably. "My mom used to do that.. Old habit.."

Anna was grateful Elsa didn't look back up. It gave her a moment to mentally recuperate, and apparently, Elsa needed the moment as well. Anna tried to find some sort of response to relieve the tension.

"Y-yeah.. Um my Aunt Gerda.. she did that too," Anna forced a nervous laugh. It sounded so fake that it hurt.

Elsa stopped rubbing her hands and gone back to digging around her medical kit. The blue box was not big, and Elsa was deftly skilled. Though she did not question it, Anna knew the blonde was still distracting herself. Elsa was surreally flustered. Her pale cheeks were so pink.. _I can't take this anymore. _

Anna had her eyes closed, trying to steady her rampaging inner monologue. Her face was flushing. Her head was reeling. Her pulse was rushing. What was this feeling?

Wait, could Elsa feel her rapid pulse?

"Now it's time for your knee."

Teal eyes snapped open.

All the blood in her cheeks drained away as Anna blanched. Oh. Right. She had another stupid abrasion. One that had surprisingly subsided in pain within the last few minutes. Maybe if she was lucky she could get another comfort kiss.. before her thoughts traveled too far down that path, a cold damp pad was already on her knee.

More damn anti-septic.

"Ow. Ow! owowowow!"

…

Anna sunk comfortably into the plush couch, enjoying all of the quiet wonder around her. Now that her wounds were bound, clean and, most importantly, numbed, she was able to take in the apartment around her.

The place was immaculate, not a dust-bunny in sight. The walls were pristine white. The couch was also equally as white. It was almost blinding, like a fresh winter snow when the sun struck it. Yet there was a stark contrast between the brilliant white and the dark navy carpet and curtains. It added a cool aura to the room. The few tables that dotted the room were decorated with small plants and crystal figurines. Many book shelves lined the walls, filled to the brim with literature. She recognized some as Shakespeare and Greek myths, while others looked like dense textbooks and Encyclopedias. Anna would bet her entire life savings that Elsa had indeed read all of those books too.

What was odd, though, was that there were no pictures or paintings hanging on the walls. Anna's dorm wall was wall-papered with old photos of friends and family and sports, trimmed with colored lights that twinkled at night. But this was just.. blank. Empty. Void of any 2-dimensional life.

She sat up a bit more, preparing to go look for her (involuntary) blonde hostess. However, a little scratching sound caught her ear. Anna paused. A moment passed and she heard it again. It sounded like it came from the other side of the couch. Curiosity always getting the better of her, Anna carefully scooted herself to the far edge of the sofa. She peered over the arm. _What on Earth..?_

There was a small, wired cage set on the floor beside the furniture. Inside the cage, strutting around like a proud little critter, was a tiny snow white bird. Oh god. It was absolutely adorable! Anna loved animals of all sorts and this one was just too fluffy and cute, like a little snowball.

With a broad smile, she leaned her head down, excitedly looking into the cage.

"Hello there-Ahhhh!" Upon hearing her loud voice, the little bird suddenly boinked up and smashed into the top of the cage, right in front of Anna's face. She ungracefully fell back onto the cushions, staring horrified in the direction of the bird cage. Quickly, she scrambled back over and looked to see how the bird was faring after slamming into the cage. It looked a bit stunned, but was shaking off its startle. Thank goodness it didn't snap its neck!

"Looks like you met Maximus," Elsa said, carefully coming into her living room holding two cups of tea. Anna startled at the voice, whipping her head around.

"He's not concussed right?" Anna looked between the blonde and the little bird, confusion and worry etched on her features. Elsa easily assessed what had just transpired between Anna and the bird.

"Don't worry. Button quails jump when they're scared. He's fine."

"Button quail?" Leave it to Elsa to have such a random pet. Then again, her best friends did also own chameleons and reindeer sized dogs. And pets were pets. And she loved pets… Her next train of thought was immediate. "Can I hold him?" She asked when Elsa placed one tea cup on the table, carefully maneuvering the cup coasters. She took a seat on the far end of the 3-person couch. She shook her head.

"He doesn't take well to strangers. He was Flynn's in high school, but the two never got along. He liked me enough," she offered as explanation, curling up her legs beneath her and taking a sip from her tea.

"But I was just being friendly.."

Elsa raised a brow. "Well he's not the social type. You obviously overwhelmed him with your exuberance."

Anna sighed and nodded in understanding, not missing the hinted parallel drawn between Elsa and Maximus. She did, however, inwardly smile at the mention of Elsa's acknowledgment of Flynn and her relationship in high school. It was nice to hear the blonde offer even the slightest information like that. Anna started to wonder if Elsa was more open to talk about personal things now that she was in the comfort of her home.

With that thought in mind, she took her cup of tea and held the warm object in her healing hands. The room was quiet, aside from Maximus' occasional scratching. Anna glanced around again. She'd never really called a wall quiet, but she could easily say Elsa's walls were. It was confusing. Maybe it was the perfect place to start asking..

"Why don't you have any paintings on your wall?" she asked casually, taking a sip of the warm liquid. _Mmm. Raspberry tea..Did she remember raspberry' my favorite fruit?_ "I mean, your place is amazing! I was just wondering is all since my room's like splattered with color."

She smiled up to the quiet blonde. Elsa shrugged, following Anna's gaze toward the empty walls.

"I like it better this way."

"But what about photos? Like.. anywhere?" She used a free hand to gesture toward the numerous tables and book shelves, none of which displayed any framed photos either. "Like of pets, or family, boyfriends, _girlfriends_, friends.." Oh. That was a bit grumbled. She hoped that what she snuck into her sentence wasn't terribly obvious, though she probably put a tad too much emphasis on it. But she _really _wanted to know more about this girlfriend thing.. and if Elsa was more open to talking right now…

To her dismay, yet partial expectation, she shook her head. Elsa didn't necessarily look annoyed, but Anna thought she saw the blonde cringe. "No desire for people's faces to clutter my space. There's no one's I'd want to see either." She reached for a National Rowing magazine that laid on her coffee table, flipping it open to a dog-eared page, signaling the end of her exposition.

It was an odd response.. Cryptic to say the least. Elsa's statements were always a decoding game for the redhead, but at least now they were just cryptic and not critical. Even with the vagueness of the statements, Anna could tell that the blonde was slowly feeling more comfortable around her. It felt nice, too. She just wondered if Elsa felt it too, or even realized that she was being more open.

As she watched the blonde casually peruse the magazine, Anna went about her decoding game. She mulled over what Elsa's cryptic words suggested. Well, actually, Anna knew what they suggested. Flynn's 'girlfriend' comment obviously had to be from the past if Elsa held such disdain for people's photos. From the looks of it, there didn't seem to be any girlfriend in the picture right now… literally.

Anna snorted at her punny joke.

"What's so funny?" Elsa asked, causing Anna to stiffen. She laughed uneasily at being caught. Another reason she shouldn't be left to the confines of her mind.

"Oh uh.. just thinking of a joke… um. Uh.. What did the Chemist do with the dead bodies?" she hurriedly pulled the first joke out of her repertoire of corny jokes. She waited only a moment before responding. "He buried them.." She paused and Elsa raised a brow. "Wait, no that's not right.. oh what will he do? He'll Barrium!" She grinned in exaggeration and slapped her unharmed knee to drive home her 'knee-slapper'.

An awkward silence passed while Anna waited for Elsa's reaction. Okay, so obviously the joke was not executed correctly, but Elsa could at least offer some form of acknowledgement. Anna was already severely missing the super comforting Elsa she'd experienced barely an hour ago.

Disliking the silence, Anna hurriedly broke it while she put her teacup down. "What's your best friend's name?" Yet again, she just pulled the first thought that tumbled to the forefront of her mind. It was probably safer than the alternative option of 'did you date Mulan' because, yes, Anna had been pondering that idea. Mulan and Elsa were Seniors, they were rowers, and they were gay (presumably). It all added up.. Or so it seemed.. Anna really needed to work on this jumping to conclusions thing. "Is it Flynn?"

The blonde pursed her lips. "He's a dear friend but.." Elsa turned a glossy page in her magazine and shrugged. "I've never had one," she said casually in response to Anna's query, as if it were normal to not ever have a best friend.

Anna bit back her question of why, exactly, this was. However, she knew whatever the answer would be it'd be dismissive anyway. She was getting a sense that Elsa was slowly getting irritated by the frequent questions. Everyone had their limits, and Anna didn't want to annoy the Senior by prying (no matter how much she wanted to pry).

Instead, Anna opted to lean back into the plush couch, closing her eyes. She hadn't realized how tired she was. She still hadn't eaten breakfast either.. How was she still alive?

The moment her stomach began to assert itself, she heard a familiar jingle. It caused both women to look up, look at each other, and then toward Anna's backpack.

_Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring. Banana Phone!_

Anna blushed while hurrying to dig out the relic, hoping to stop the silly ringtone. She didn't even look at the screen before flipping it open. "Hello?"

'_Anna!'_ came Hans' excited voice. _'Are you ready for our brunch?'_

"Brunch…" Anna whispered as she wracked her brain for what he meant. She slapped her forehead. She looked at her watch and remembered. "That's right.. Oh crap I forgot, Hans. I'm so so sorry."

'_Oh, that's fine. Where are you at?'_

Anna bit down on her lip. She knew Hans disliked Elsa for some reason. He'd probably not be happy to know she was over here. Yet she had a perfectly good reason to be. And she'd rather not lie. Anna hated, absolutely hated lying. Hans would understand, and if he didn't, well, he'd have to get used to it. She was an independent woman who could do as she pleased, dammit!

"I'm at Elsa's apartment," she said finally, peeking at the reading woman through the corner of her eye.

Hans was hesitant in responding. '.._Why are you on the North Mountain?'_ Supposedly Elsa lived at the summit of North Street, which was on a hill, so Hans and Kristoff often called it that. Anna hadn't really noticed on the drive up.

"I kinda got hit by a car.." She opted that it was better to spare the miniscule detail of it being Elsa's car that she had bumped into. Hans urgently started to speak but she quickly cut him off to stop his worries. "-But Elsa found me and helped me out. Trust me, it was my fault." She glanced at the blonde whose head was still in her magazine. However, she caught a small nod come from the woman. So Elsa was eavesdropping? Anna wrinkled her brow in humor at the woman, before refocusing on Hans' voice.

'_Well I'm outside Western Hall.. Want me to go and meet you at the bottom of the street?'_ He sounded hopeful. Anna felt awful about completely forgetting about their brunch date. She had a lot on her mind though, granted she hadn't really remembered it after practice either. Hunger was a beast that consumed all of her thoughts. But going to brunch meant food, and getting some alone time to hang out with Hans, which was always fun.

"Yes, I'll meet you down there." Anna stood up with her bag in hand.

'_Great. See you soon, Love.'_ Anna's gut clenched at the term of endearment. Hans had only just started using it, but it felt too premature. She said a simple goodbye, and left it at that. She put her phone into her backpack, double checking her water bottle didn't leak on anything. She turned to look at the lounging Senior.

"Glad you admit it was your fault," Elsa said, flipping to a new page on sports apparel. Anna's eyes rolled and she mouthed a mocking response that Elsa didn't see. "If Coach knew I hit his precious coxswain, he'd have my head."

Anna laughed at that. "Yeah sure. I bet he'd totally understand my clumsiness by now!" She slung her bag over her shoulder. "So um.. thanks again for patching me up and stuff.. But I need to umm.."

Elsa let out a breath and put down the magazine. "Brunch with Hans, I heard. Your bike's down in my car," she said as she got up and grabbed her keys from her kitchen island.

As the two women headed down the marble stairs of the ritzy apartment building, Anna nervously rubbed the shoulder straps of her bag. For whatever reason, Anna thought about what Elsa had said about Coach Oaken. Yeah, he would be really upset if she was injured.. But would that really matter if she suddenly chose not to cox?

What if she just wanted to row.. with Elsa?

She wasn't sure if she should voice this idea or not. It would more than likely be ignored, as were most of her ideas, but maybe this was worth a shot. When they exited the building and walked toward Elsa's car she finally said it.

"What do you think about rowing in the spring? Like, maybe instead of doing both things.." she searched for her words as Elsa opened her trunk. "..um maybe I can just row with you and not cox." Elsa had yanked the scraped up bike from her trunk and was setting it up in front of her teammate. "I mean think about how much stronger we'd be if we trained twice a day in the boat!"

Anna took the handles of the bike offered to her. Her smile was wide and excited, happy to voice this idea.

Elsa dryly chuckled at the suggestion, seeming to momentarily consider the notion. _Momentarily._ "Only if we win next Sunday."

Although still grinning, Anna eyed the woman skeptically. Elsa had actually agreed… suspicious.. very suspicious..

Whether or not Elsa was serious or not, Anna was going to be sure to hold her to this promise. She abruptly stuck out her pinky, causing Elsa to look down in confusion. "Pinky swear on it."

Her sapphire eyes widened, glancing down at the extended digit before back up to the freckled teen. Figures. Elsa wasn't serious. But like Hell Anna Grace Suvi would let this opportunity pass. Anna cocked a brow in the challenging manner that she knew would lure in the blonde.

She knew Elsa would never pass up the chance for victory.

Elsa narrowed her eyes at the smirking freckled face. She knew Anna had her. Finally, Elsa relented to the younger girl's efforts, and probably took the challenge. She raised her own pinky to meet Anna's half-way. An amused smile came to her lips.

"Pinky swear."

**-End Chapter 9-**

**A.N. So I wanna give you all a heads up (cuz I hate when fics do this without warning), the next 2 weeks I have 2 research proposals, 2 reports, and a case study due. Chapter 10 is almost done, but my school writing comes first. So chapter 10 will be posted a little later in June after everything is submitted. Sincerest apologies, but I think you'll like the following chapters :)**

**To blow off anxiety and take breaks from writing, I tend to draw, so my tumblr gets some pictures for Backwards. This fic seriously never leaves my mind!**

**Sorry, long winded again. But as always, thank you for reading!**


	10. Reflection

**Chapter 10**

Anna opened her phone scrolling through her messages as she hurried to the main campus. _I seriously lack in social variety_, she thought in amusement as she looked at the inbox. Out of all the names that filled her inbox, 4 names were consistently at the top. _Well, at least it's still 2 more than high school!_

She quickly read through each text and sent an appropriate response:

- Rapunzel's latest drama over Flynn pestering her for a date: _'Give the guy a chance. Have you introduced him to Pascal yet?'_

-A photo of Kristoff's newest ice sculpture: '_Totally awesome. You'll so get an A!'_

-A kiss-y face from Hans:_ ' :) '_

Finally, she opened the text she saved for last. It was short and direct, much as she had expected.

'_I am in the usual study room.'_

Every week since duo started their tutoring deal, Anna and Elsa met on Friday nights for a tutor session. It had started as a 1 hour meeting, but it gradually extended into 2 hours. This extended time was due to the growing openness between the two, unsurprisingly at Anna's insistence. But Anna couldn't help it if she wanted to show Elsa all of the crazy viral videos on YouTube! She didn't even know if the professional woman even understood the concept of a viral video, but that didn't stop her. Elsa didn't find them nearly as funny as the redhead, but every passing week she at least seemed to enjoy Anna's excitement more and more.

Last week had been the most productive yet. As Anna died of laughter over 'Keyboard Cat', Elsa had given her a light chuckle. Anna couldn't be sure if it was due to the video or Anna's obnoxious laughter induced snort, but a win was a win. _One day I'll get her to really laugh_, Anna had decided that night, already preparing ideas of other viral videos to share.

Now, Anna quickened her pace and typed an answer back to Elsa's message. _'Sorry I'm late, almost at the library! I couldn't find my I.D. which totally threw off my time'._ Well, that was the partial truth. Aside from misplacing her I.D. in her sock drawer, she had also taken a nap and woken up late. However, Elsa needn't know that.

She pushed open the glass door entrance into the 3 story, 'Home of the Books'. After rounding a few bends, with a smile to her friends working the library desk, Anna bounded up the stairs toward their super secret study room. Super secret only signifying it was at the end of a corridor.

Her pocket buzzed again.

'_Do not worry. I have other work to occupy myself. I will see you soon.'_

Anna rolled her eyes at the unnecessary formality that always accompanied her TA's texts. Only Elsa would be that stiff. She couldn't help but smile though. It was an Elsa quirk. She hadn't asked, but she was pretty sure Elsa did not frequently text many other people. She'd seen Elsa's brand new iPhone-6 (Anna could swear those weren't even on the market yet..), but it was only momentary as the blonde checked a calendar date. All her other friends were practically glued to their phones. It was a bit refreshing to think Elsa wasn't like that. Most of Elsa's traits were a breath of fresh air, actually.

When Anna got to the big door, paired with a viewing window, she briefly peaked in. She smiled seeing the lone blonde, engrossed with typing something on her laptop. This tutor time was specially organized just for Anna. Elsa's usual TA hours were during Anna's Nutrition class, so Anna never had to worry about not getting Elsa's full attention. She didn't like the idea of having to share Elsa's attention anyway.

She knocked, stepping inside. She was met with Elsa's polite smile as she moved her textbooks away from the seat next to her. Anna smiled. _Her_ seat.

When the redhead dumped her books onto the chair and started slipping off her coat, she finally took in Elsa's appearance. She abruptly put her hands on her hips, not even bothering to finish removing the coat that now draped haphazardly on her sleeve.

"Seriously?"

Blue eyes looked at her in confusion. Elsa had gotten used to many of Anna's excentricies, but most of the time she still had no idea what caused them.

"I'm sorry..?"

"How did you have the time to dress so nice right now?" she said referencing Elsa's professional TA attire. The last time she had seen the blonde was earlier at the Athletics Center where they were weight lifting. Elsa was certainly more put together now than how Anna found her earlier; sweat dripping from her bangs, tank-top damp, arm muscles bulging as she curled her bicep reps. (Oh, fun fact. Elsa was curling a _45lb dumbbell_. Like really?!)_._ Anna eyed the loose, long sleeved blouse that currently stretched the length of Elsa's arm. It made her arms look tiny. _You lie.. I know what kind of muscles lay hidden beneath your surface._

Elsa cleared her throat. "I had 2 hours.. I cooked dinner, showered, got dressed and came to campus.." Elsa looked down to her blouse, sweater-vest and dress pants, before back up at Anna. Now it was her turn to analyze _Anna's_ appearance; messy hair, casual sweats, exposed t-shirt and slight drool stains on her lip. Her eyes narrowed, raising an eyebrow in amusement. "And in these 2 hours I see you have yet to even change your workout shirt.."

Anna sighed. That was true. While Elsa may be able to utilize every aspect of a 2 hour span perfectly, Anna spent her share gorging on a burrito at dinner and then passing out in her bed. Naps were tricky for her. She'd either wake up super refreshed, or in a pile of drool, completely unaware of what year it was. Tonight was the latter.

"Come now, time to get to work." Elsa patted the table top after casting a glance to the wall clock. "I'll start you off and then I need to type up my report."

Anna did as she was told, pulling out her papers and pencil. She put her notebook and Polish textbook next to the Macro-Economic textbook. As she scooted her chair in, she looked at the blonde with interest. "So is your report on macro-economics?"

Elsa's lip curled up slightly. "How deductive of you."

Anna waved her hand with a proud smile. "I know, I am brilliant after all."

She was met with a nod. "But my paper's actually on Cognitive Linguistic theory."

Anna blanched, not expecting that. "Uh.. well.. that's random.. I mean, I was guessing you were doing something with business because.." She shook her head, stopping herself from blurting out anything. It may not be a good idea to mention that Flynn told her about Elsa's parents and that whole 'inherit the family business' thing. Instead, she chose to ask the question that had been eating her up since their first race. "Seriously, what's your major anyway?"

"Double major actually." Elsa corrected before shrugging at Anna's raised eye brows. "Economy and Linguistics."

"Whoah, how do you even have the time? Like on top of crew and all. Here I thought being Undeclared was a heavy work load already.."

"If you couldn't tell, I don't do much outside of crew and school," she said with a hint was bitterness in her words. Anna chewed her cheek, fighting back blurting something out again. Maybe she shouldn't have asked Flynn anything about Elsa. Who knew when her tongue would act before her brain again? Elsa suddenly broke Anna's trance by pushing the notebook in front of the freckled teen. "Speaking of work load, stop avoiding yours." She cocked a brow as Anna rolled her eyes, taking the notebook.

"I kind of want to major in 'Avoiding Responsibilities'." She grinned at the older woman, waggling her eyebrows in hopes of a reaction. "Eh? Eh?" She was met with the stoic, teacher face. "Oh fine.." She picked up her pencil and willed herself to begin working.

A few minutes later, there was a buzz on the table. Both sets of eyes fell on the i-Phone 6 that lay next to the laptop. Elsa dragged her finger across the screen, reading whatever came up. Anna only caught a glimpse of the large text box before Elsa turned it to silent and flipped it upside down. It was past 8:30. Who was texting Elsa this late? Elsa caught Anna's curious gaze on the device.

"Just a check-in from the Captains," she stated bluntly, practically answering Anna's inner question. Under a skeptical brow raise, she rolled her eyes. She knew Anna was just teasing her again. Anna always teased her whenever Elsa gave any hint of being a typical, modern day college girl. Which was rare, if that is at all hard to believe. "Trust me. I don't text anyone."

_Except me,_ Anna thought proudly, also noting that Elsa did indeed not text the person back. That made her feel increasingly special. Her coxswain attitude absolutely ate it up!

Anna just nodded politely at Elsa, still enjoying the chances she got to tease her. Then Anna's curiosity (on top of her desire to avoid doing work) finally got the better of her. "Question."

"Answer."

She rolled her eyes while gently playing with her pencil between her fingers. "How did you get my phone number?" Sheesh. Finally she had the nerve to ask it. After losing sleep over this question weeks and weeks ago when she first met Elsa, she had forgotten it. But apparently, desperately wanting to avoid homework stimulates odd memories to resurface.

The question had caused the blonde to look momentarily puzzled, a pink hue gracing her cheeks at the suddenness. "I asked Coach Oaken," she said after clearing her throat.

"Why?"

Another puzzled look. "I told you. In case something came up and I needed to contact you about practice."

Anna shook her head. "No, why did you ask Coach and not me?" Elsa kept her mouth closed and averted her eyes. "I mean only creepy people get numbers without asking ya know." Anna chided, also remembering how her thoughts had circled around this notion. Like Hell she'd admit that though.

"It's not creepy," Elsa grumbled, sounding offended at the accusation. She rolled her eyes at Anna's smug look, bringing her knuckles to slightly cover her mouth. She drummed her fingers against her keyboard. "I just.. I didn't want to talk to you.."

That surprised the redhead. She tilted her head to the side, offering big bright eyes, trying to keep the conversation light. "Is it because I'm _so_ scary?" Elsa glared at her, but only received a goofy, lopsided grin in return. Hell, Elsa's Button quail certainly thought Anna was scary. It could be true.

"I... may have been a little.." Her words were grumbled into her knuckles. "..by your excessive exuberance."

Anna's eyes narrowed and she leaned in to Elsa's personal space bubble, causing the blonde to lean her torso back. "You were a little.. _what_?"

The blonde puffed her currently pink cheeks. "Intimidated.." she growled unhappily. Her frown deepened as Anna's face lit up like the sun. Her toothy grin was absolutely impish. "It was because you were strange, mind you. Goodness," she huffed in aggravation as she watched the joy Anna took from the admission. No matter how hard Elsa tried to fight away the teen's goofy expression, Anna would not let it go.

The only way Elsa could manage a distraction was shoving the Polish textbook into Anna's lap. It caused her to let out an 'oomph' in pain as it brushed over the top of her scuffed up knee. Most of her abrasions had healed over the course of the week, but they were still easily irritated.

"Stop trying to major in 'Responsibility Avoidance', " Elsa said in a firm voice.

"Uh, _excuse _you it's 'Avoiding Responsibilities'." Anna said in a similar tone. "I am just trying to complete the pre-requisites and you are interfering with my education."

Elsa groaned, bringing a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Just.. Read the 6th chapter. I know you haven't." Despite the cold and annoyed exterior that the blonde was desperately trying to exhibit, Anna knew that on the inside she was still burning in embarrassment. Elsa. All flustered. It was just too awesome an experience to not revel in. She smiled one last time up at the blonde before eyes fell back to her book.

The next hour and a half flew by, as they always did during the girls' study sessions. Anna was a little pouty that she couldn't pull up her list of YouTube videos. However, Elsa needed to write her report and wasn't up for distractions. Anna forced herself to understand, but she was still miffed she didn't get a chance to make Elsa laugh at the ridiculousness. Looked like 'Best of Fail Vines', 'Cat Betrays His Girlfriend', and 'Dogs Like Socks' would have to wait until next Friday.

As the two prepared to pack up, Elsa took out her TA sign-in sheet. Anna saw it and knew the drill well enough by now. She had to sign off that she indeed attended Elsa's session. The school required the form so the Senior got paid. It was such a casual and highly honor based system. She began signing her name and the date.

"Gotta make sure you make your mula, eh?" Anna giggled, while Elsa nodded. "Saving up for anything? An i-Phone 7? More ritzy shoes?" Anna had meant to keep her tone lighthearted, but when she looked back up at Elsa's expression, she realized she may have sounded more invidious.. offensive even. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't the least bit envious of Elsa's financial support. Flynn had said her parents were paying her tuition. Anna had to apply for every possible scholarship offered and still was going to be drowning in loans after graduation. But it was absolutely no reason to take it out on the blonde. She knew it was too late though. She had struck a nerve.

Elsa roughly pulled her navy jacket on and pulled her satchel over her shoulder. Her eyes hardened for the first time that night and she looked defensive. "Just because of my family's history doesn't mean that's all that I'm about." Her tone was insulted, but masked a layer of hurt as well.

Anna's eyes became remorseful. She dipped her head down once her backpack was squarely on her back. "I.. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like that.."

"Whatever. I'm used to everyone thinking that anyway." Elsa put away the sign-in sheet and headed to the door. Her defense was up. She put that poker face mask on. That same poker face that had always indicated end of discussion. But Anna wouldn't have it. Not this time. She had come too far and cared too much. With a bout of courage, she moved.

"Well I'm not everyone," she stated, jumping in front of the taller woman. Her cerulean eyes bore into Elsa's hurt ones. Had the comment really bothered her that much? Anna felt her heart clench as she realized that Elsa, the anti-social, stoic, cold, critical woman, had been starting to.. trust her. _That's why she's feeling like this.. _"I just have poor social pragmatic skills when I talk." She did her best to smile a warm smile, hoping her sincerity would shine through. Elsa stared at Anna's face.

After they stood there for a long moment, gaze locked, Elsa uneasily crossed her arms across her chest. Anna could immediately read the woman's uncomfortable body language. She had done it. A moment of courage was all it took to bring those defenses down. She was staring at an exposed side of the blonde.

"I save it for rowing. My.. my parents.. kind of refuse to help with any of my rowing expenses.." _Yes. I know that already.._ Anna bit her tongue at the thought, this time coming way too close to speaking aloud. _Don't interrupt her and ruin this, doofus. She's finally opening up! Oh please open up more.._ "It's viewed as a distraction from my studies, which are more important. To make a point, they've never even gone to a race."

"Wow Elsa. I-I didn't know.." _Well I did somewhat.. But man, hearing it from Elsa, it just sounds so painful. How can any parents force this on their child?_

"Yeah, well.. I owe them, I guess." Anna furrowed her brows, as Elsa hugged herself for a moment before releasing a breath. "Whatever. When I start working for the company things will hopefully get better." Her voice had lowered gruffly, seeming to be speaking more to herself. She released a hand from her body and reached for the door handle. "We should get going."

This time, when the blonde went to exit, Anna just followed and shut the door behind them.

"So you saved up all your money to buy that amazing, personally designed boat?" After some quiet minutes of walking Anna chose to break the silence, hoping the question was an appropriate adjustment to their topic. Elsa nodded in response, seeming to appreciate Anna's effort. "How much did it cost?"

"12."

Anna blinked. "..Hundred?"

Elsa breathed what could have been an attempted chuckle. She shook her head. "Anna, really now?"

Oh Anna knew. She knew very well that Elsa did not mean 12 hundred. Not when crew boats cost the amount they did. Elsa meant 12 thousand. Anna had to visibly shake her head at the notion. God that had to be her entire life savings! Maybe two life savings! How many jobs had she been working? When did she start working? In Kindergarten? Her ever eager to help personality was stirred and she couldn't contain it.

"Wow. Looks like you need me to come to more study sessions so you can save up again!" Anna tempted to joke lightly. When Elsa snorted a laugh, Anna thought about her comment. If she was being honest, which she was, her words were only partially kidding.

"Maybe. _You_ can always benefit from additional practice anyway."

Anna was so intrigued by her sudden idea that she didn't even acknowledge Elsa's jibe. She wouldn't mind getting to spend more time outside of practice with the blonde. It was the only time they actually were able to bond; to feel like more than just teammates and tutors. Yes, Elsa still had that critical attitude when they were in the crew setting, but she completely transformed when they weren't focusing on competing. It was still mind boggling, but definitely a foundation Anna planned on fully utilizing for her benefit. Tonight she'd seen an unsure side of the blonde. An emotional side which she could only guess was a sliver of everything else the women locked away from the world.

Anna couldn't help but think that, finally, she had proof that Elsa was not an Ice Queen. Not some ethereal creature incapable of considering others' feelings. Not an emotionless drone, unable to feel. No. Anna knew.

Elsa was indeed as human as she.

…

Anna found herself on Hans' couch as the two cuddled up and watched some crime show marathon on television. Hans loved crime shows. He talked about how fun it was to try and solve the crimes and get inside the heads of the mastermind criminals. Anna, however, tended to find them boring. It was more like once you've seen one, you've seen them all.

The one they were watching now was called '_Rizzoli & Isles'_ or something. At first Anna was apprehensive, not really caring for the previous crime shows Hans had her watch, but this new one was pleasantly different. Maybe it was because the dialogue was pretty funny, or the interesting side-stories, or how Hans happily kept trying to solve the murders…

_Or maybe_ it was the odd sexual tension experienced between the two leading ladies. In all honestly, she was slightly confused as to why the two women weren't married. They certainly acted like an old married couple! Hans had explained that the characters were just best friends, but Anna wasn't so sure after watching a few episodes.

She did find the characters oddly relatable though. Actually she found herself drawing so many parallels. The little Medical Examiner was so quirky and awkward. She always rambled on about irrelevant things, but was always so chipper. Anna felt like she'd found a kindred spirit. And the tall, muscular detective was so cool and tough, but easily irritated. Yet the woman had this softer side too, but she only showed it around the Medical Examiner. Anna smiled and laughed inwardly at how much that personality resembled Elsa's. After watching the relationship play out on screen, Anna finally understood why their own polar opposite relationship worked so well. Well, in a friendly way. Just like how Rizzoli & Isles were friends.. Nothing more.

_But they're just so oblivious_, she thought in amusement, smiling as the two women on screen leaned in to hug each other. She found her thoughts drift in and out of the actual crime, finding it more amusing to think about the leading ladies. _They way that they longingly look at each other is just ridiculous. No one stares into their friends' eyes like that.. It's like eye sex! And they always want to be together and talk about the other. So oblivious._

It wasn't the first time she'd paired up T.V. characters. Not even lesbian pairs. She loved Gabrielle & Xena from '_Xena_'.. Oh and Beca & Chloe from '_Pitch Perfect'_! It was a guilty pleasure she had never admitted. But it was just in good fun. Still, she chose not to voice her inner thoughts to Hans. It just felt odd to talk to her boyfriend about the subject of two girls being together.

Her thoughts slowly drifted around to the topic of sexuality. Anna furrowed her brow.

There was nothing wrong with girls liking girls, or boys liking boys, in Anna's mind. She'd just never actually met any lesbians until coming to Arendelle. Mulan.. Elsa.. Well, that's only assuming. Technically she had never been explicitly told anything, so who knows. Maybe Elsa's girlfriend was a onetime thing. Girls sometimes experiment in college after all..

Anna's focus was now fully broken from the crime show and its lady lovin' sexual tension.

What if Elsa was one of those experimenting girls? Granted, as much as Anna had been wondering about Elsa's past girlfriend (girlfriends?), she never actually thought about Elsa's sexuality. It never even fazed her. She had kind of thought that if she ever met someone gay, her whole perception of the person would be skewed, though not necessarily in a bad way. Just a different way. A good different probably. But here, there was nothing. Elsa was just.. Elsa.

She chewed her lip.

Well, certainly she wasn't _just_ Elsa. Elsa was so much more than that on so many hidden levels. She was like an onion, always revealing more by peeling back layer by layer.. only she didn't smell or make Anna cry. She actually made her happy-

"Anna? Hello?" Anna blinked, snapped from her trance as Hans looked at her curiously. "I know you said you didn't like crime shows, but is this one really that boring?"

She looked into his questioning hazel eyes. "Oh, no no. I actually really enjoy it! I was.. getting really into it." She smiled, glancing at the screen to see the rolling credits.

"You're so cute," Hans cooed, moving a hand beneath her chin. He brought Anna's face back to his own and pressed his lips to hers. It did not last long as Anna quickly pulled back and stretched with a dramatic yawn. Hans didn't seem bothered by the girl's sleepy state.

"I'm going to have to go back and get some sleep," she said.

"I understand." Tomorrow was their last race of the season and it was arguably the most important. They were racing their longtime rivals from Atlantica College. Everyone needed to get a good night's rest to beat those dastardly Barracudas.

As they stood to say goodbye Hans looked at her again.

"Oh, tomorrow night, after the race, we're having an end of the season party here."

Anna tilted her head. "I thought the team was doing a team dinner to celebrate?"

"Well yes, but we mean for the _upperclassmen_." He waggled his eye brows. "There'll be alcohol and Flynn's Captain so it'd be a legality issue for him to invite anyone not 21."

"Soooo people such as me?" Anna smirked.

Hans smiled down at her. "Right. Buuuuut I pulled some strings for you to come as my guest." Of course Hans talked his roommate into this. "It'll be a belated costume party since none of us got to go out for Halloween last week."

At first, the thought of going to a party without her best friends at her side was a bit saddening. Rapunzel was still 18, Kristoff didn't turn 21 until the spring, and Olaf was perpetually 14. But she'd get a chance to socialize with the older students. That could be entertaining. And experience her first college party scene.. Oh, and also spend time with her boyfriend. Shouldn't that be her first thought?

But at the mention of costumes, Anna was sold. There were never crazy Halloween parties to attend since they all had early practice. But soon the season would be over. "Sounds great! I'll be there with bells on!" She gave a cheeky smile, using a phrase her Aunt Gerda said back home.

"Oh I'll be listening then!"

…

Sunday morning came so soon and the air held an early winter chill to it. All of the rowers were bundled up, their typical uni covered by long spandex leggings and long sleeved under-armor. The groups that weren't getting ready to row were huddled together, covered in layers of sweats, jackets and scarves. It was severely much too cold for a certain redhead's liking.

Anna stood on the porch of their boathouse. A home regatta was a nice change. They didn't have to endure long bus rides or get up at 4am just to travel. And best of all, a home race gave the team a home advantage. Anna smiled nervously, eyeing the familiar, yet choppy river. The waves lapped against the docks, splashing the wood. It looked rough enough to flip their Double on the dock, let alone after they were on the river.

_Come on Anna. You know this course. You know this river._ There were no surprises when she came around winding bends. She knew how far she could steer the boat to shore without hitting land. She knew how the winds could change drastically through the cavernous fjord.

She breathed deep, watching the frost crystallize in the air in front of her. She wasn't coxing the Four today. No. Her only race would be in the Double. Being the only race made the stakes even greater. And she was not going to settle for anything less than a win today.

"How are you feeling?" asked a calm, feminine voice from her side. The redhead looked as her sculling partner stepped up beside her and leaned her forearms against the railing. Elsa seemed to sense the slight anxiety from the younger girl.

"The chop always makes me a little nervous," she admitted a little unsurely, eyes downcast. "Like what if we flip.."

"We won't flip," Elsa said with complete confidence, those words alone alleviating some of Anna's anxiety. Elsa tilted her head."Why does it bother you that much?"

Anna scrunched her shoulders. She shook her head with a small chuckle. "I had scare as a kid. Just never really learned to be a good swimmer after."

"Yeah, I saw that," Elsa said with a sly grin. Anna's cheeks reddened. Yeah, the entire crew team had seen that! There was a pause between them. To spare her the embarrassment, Elsa asked again, "How are you feeling otherwise?" She nodded to Anna's arm. The conversation redirection brightened the redhead's spirit. She pulled up her sleeve.

"Good. Everything's healed up thanks to your amazing medical skills!" she said happily, eyeing the scabs that had molded on her hands and arm. Training that week had started out fairly painful. Any time she moved her arms and knees just irritated the skin. And blisters on her palm? Ugh. She may as well have used the sanitizer again! However, now all the healing scabs did was fuel her excitement. If she could row through such injurious pain, obviously she'd endure the muscle draining pain of the race! Her body made its full recovery and she was ready to show off her skills. She glanced down at the blonde's body and she reeled her head back. "Where are all your warm clothes? It's like below 40 degrees!" she asked in an appalled, mother like voice. Elsa was only wearing her uni.

The blonde shrugged, gaze out on the river. She let out a crystallized breath. "The cold never bothered me."

Anna involuntarily shuddered beneath her sweatshirt. She was looking forward to, yet simultaneously dreading, the approaching time at which she'd need to strip down to her uni for the race. "You are crazy.. whoah what happened there?" Anna leaned in to the blonde's uni. The golden 'A' emblem was tearing off of the spandex shoulder strap. It was flapped down, exposing the bare collar bone beneath it. It wasn't like Elsa to tarnish anything that was rowing related. The thought even seemed sacrilegious. Teal eyes looked at Elsa, expectantly.

Elsa unconsciously brought her hand to the loose fabric, tugging it gently. She knew Anna was awaiting a dramatic tale. "A reindeer charged me on my way to the race and its antler tore the fabric." Anna's eyes widened, her face astonished. Part of Elsa's lip turned upward. "Kidding. It caught on my coat zipper this morning."

The younger rower's face fell and she incredulously stared at the blonde's face. It was barely concealing her amusement. And Anna had been hoping to get the blonde to start making jokes? She seriously wasn't expecting Elsa's humor to be so dull.

"Oye," she mumbled putting her palm against her forehead, shaking her head.

Elsa looked slightly offended. "What?"

"Your humor.. it's going to be the death of me."

"Because I'm that clever?"

Anna shook her head again and cocked a brow. "I think we need to have you watch a few more viral videos."

Elsa was about to retort when the women heard a call to attention echo across the docks. "Will all the teams' coxswains, bow seats and coaches please come to the front docks for the debriefing meeting!" boomed a race official into his megaphone. All of the traveling teams, as well as the Arendelle members, headed down to where the official stood.

Anna sent a nervous smile to Elsa and gave a salute. "Be back soon!" As she ran down the wooden ramp, she glanced out at the water. Gone were the choppy wakes, replaced with flat, glass-like beauty. She felt her nerves from earlier suddenly turn into anxious excitement. In an hour, they'd be racing down for the final race this season. She eagerly bounced on the balls of her feet all through the entire meeting, hardly processing the official's announcements.

It felt all too soon, yet also too slow, by the time her watch struck the signaling hour.

It was time.

Anna walked down the bay, hand slowly trailing overtop of the sleek Double. She smiled looking down at _Arendelle's Glory_. The golden letters shined against the dark purple hull. This boat had seen so many things this fall. Training, racing, and a blossoming comradery between two unlikely rowing partners. Anna smiled at the dorky thought. She heard soft footsteps enter the bay. She needn't look up to recognize the sound of those fancy Italian boat shoes..

Elsa stopped at the stern of the boat. She watched as Anna finished her lazy path down to the bow, from which she commanded their boat.

As the two girls stood by the Double, prepared to get hands on, Anna remembered something. Quickly, she hopped over to Elsa. The blonde looked at her partner curiously as Anna grabbed her pale hand. She pried open Elsa's slender fingers and placed an index card there. She used both hands to wrap the fingers back around the object and held the rower's hand for a moment. Her sparkling eyes looked up. "I do these with the boys at each race.. Today, I wanted to give you one too."

With that, she stepped back shyly, going back over to the bow of the Double. However, she kept an eye on the platinum blonde.

Elsa blinked as she processed what had just transpired, eyes falling to the index card in her hand. She delicately unfolded the card and read the messy scribbles across it. She scanned the words carefully:

'_Whoever wrote 'Row Row Row your boat gently down the stream' sure as Hell never sculled with us!'_

Elsa sent a narrowed side glance to the giddy redhead who was bouncing in her Crocs, trying to bite back a smile. After a moment's delay, Elsa's lip turned up in an amused smirk. She let out a frosty breath that almost sounded like chuckle. "Cute."

Anna's cheeks hurt when her grin exploded at the compliment of her little gift. She watched the blonde tuck the card into her sports bra. She patted it for safe keeping. The action was endearing to the younger girl.

Elsa then reached her hands around the hull of _Arendelle's Glory_. She code switched immediately into her low, rower voice. "Ready to show them how to row?"

Anna followed suit, smiling with determination. "Sure as Hell… Hands on!"

…

The 6k was a race of the clock, each boat staggered 10 seconds apart as they crossed the start line.

Powerful.

Strong.

Every stroke is done in synchrony and yielding a power to be controlled. Each stroke is stronger than the one before.

The agonizing 19 minutes of racing against that intangible clock, boats sporadically decorating the winding fjord as each stroke moves them closer to the boat ahead, closer to the finish line.

One boat.. two boats..

The Arendelle University Double easily breezed past their third boat. It was the final stretch of the 3 mile race. Only a few more strokes and..

"Let it run!" Anna called out, finally having a chance to catch her breath. "Blades down." The four sets of oars dropped flat on the water as their boat glided, slowly losing momentum.

The two had crossed the finish buoy line and paddled a few more strokes to clear the finish area. Finally, they were stopped. Both women reached for their water bottles, gratefully chugging back the delicious liquid. After some deep breaths, both women found their respiration and heart rates to come back down within a normal range.

They had passed 3 boats in their race, and their boat's run had felt absolutely amazing. All the chop and wakes from earlier had dissipated the moment their boat hit the water. Gentle, pristine water made the row amazing. Although they would need to wait to arrive at the docks to hear their final time and ranking, Anna felt pretty positive they'd medaled. The race just went too well not to have.

Unable to hide her giddiness, she eagerly tried to envelop the blonde in excitement as well.

"Hey, Elsa." Anna already knew there would be no response since Elsa knew Anna's post-race bubbly-ness was coming out. She had opted to attempt another joke."Two peanuts were walking down the street and one was salty." She furrowed her brow as she processed what she said. "Crap! That's not how it goes. One was salted.. Why isn't this right?" She searched her brain for how the one-liner went but just could not remember it at the moment. The race adrenaline wearing off must have been screwing with her brain. She let out a growl of frustration, huffing her bangs out of her face.

There was a moment of silence and Anna simply took her oars in her hands again. _Eh._ _It was worth a shot._ She looked over her shoulder, planning to get back to the docks for the final time that Fall season. Then the most absolutely, most unexpected, and most beautiful thing happened.

Anna heard the blonde emit a breath.

Soon it became more like a chuckle.

Then, before her very eyes, Elsa started outright laughing, her quick rising and falling shoulders the biggest indication of her amusement at Anna's comment. Her usual bell-like laugh had transformed into true boisterous happiness. Elsa actually found something Anna said funny. Like really _really _funny. For the first time in the entire season. It felt like the first time in forever! Oh goodness, was that laugh beautiful.

And if their win and this angelic laugh weren't enough, Life surely rewarded Anna for dealing with all its cruelties. She felt her heart flutter as Elsa cast a large, yet tired, smile over her shoulder. Her teeth sparkled on full display, and she even had the slightest hint of dimples. This smile was as true as her laugh. It was truly an award winning smile that Anna would tuck away in her memory forever.

Anna couldn't believe it. This was the true, happy side of this stoic woman. She was finally seeing it. She wouldn't trade this moment for anything.

The redhead could not help the toothy grin that spread across her face as she turned to get her point. And that toothy smile lasted well beyond after they docked.

It lasted beyond the congratulatory remarks that were given to them.

Beyond the news that they took 1st place.

Beyond the knowledge that they demolished their rivaling Atlantica Barracudas.

And how could it not?

She had finally proved that, together, they could win. That they were capable of something great. She knew Elsa saw it in them too. Perhaps that was what caused the blonde to let her feelings go, even if for just a few minutes. To laugh. To smile. To share in a joy with Anna. Together. Whatever Elsa's reasoning, Anna refused to question it.

…

Anna's same smile was ever present through the team's celebratory End of the Season dinner. Everyone was there, including her anti-social partner. It took some (a lot of) convincing from the coaches but finally Elsa begrudgingly opted to attend. While the 60 some rowers and coxswains rejoiced in elation at the finale of the season, Elsa sat quietly at the end corner, against the wall of the banquet table. Anna had tried to get the seat beside her, sensing Elsa's annoyance of being there, but a couple of Novice rowers beat her to it. She had to settle for a seat that was diagonal to the irritated blonde. Every so often, she glanced at the Senior and sent sympathetic smiles whilst Elsa dealt with Mogli and Tink's eccentric personalities. Their hands gestured almost as fast as their mouths ran.

Anna almost choked on her Mountain Dew when the wild boy's french fry suddenly went flying into Elsa's face. Elsa's appalled expression was priceless. Anna could practically hear Elsa's eye roll at the immaturity and she couldn't help but laugh loudly. When Elsa locked eyes with Anna again, she narrowed them, silently cursing Anna's amusement. But even that death glare couldn't make Anna's smile falter.

That smile even accompanied Anna as she prepared for the upperclassmen party in Flynn & Hans' suite.

She had graciously taken her time, trying to finagle something that resembled an acceptable costume. She was usually over prepared for Halloween costume parties. This year she just assumed she'd be skipping the holiday due to its random placement during mid-week. She grabbed an old pair of black jeans, a red flannel shirt and some old work boots she'd randomly decided to drag to university. She took two black belts and threw them over her shoulders, trying to clasp them onto her jeans to get that 'suspender' look. Lastly she taped a square of grey paper onto a pencil and stuck it in her pocket.

As she stood in her mirror, she nodded to herself. _Well if college doesn't work out, I could always become a lumberjack._

The party didn't start until after 9 o'clock, although some of the upperclassmen had already begun drinking upon leaving the team dinner. No practice in the morning meant no waking up early. Some students refrained from going too hard if they had internships in the morning, but most upperclassmen had no morning courses.

When Anna arrived at the dorm room, the party was already in full swing and by the looks of it, most of the rowers did not have internships to worry about and were ready to pull an all-nighter. She glanced around from costume to costume. It was amusing seeing many of the upperclassmen dressed up. Their class status always made them appear more mature and professional in Anna's eyes.

But watching them dressed up like silly creatures, sharing boisterous laughter and drunken dancing was an exceptional experience. Marshall walked around in an Abominable snowman outfit. Esmeralda dressed like a gypsy. Odette was feathered up like a swan. Tarzan dressed in only a loincloth. And Flynn..

Anna tilted her head as the Junior came strutting up to her. Her eyes scanned down his outfit and then back up to his eye shadow colored eyes. The shade of purple did nothing for his hazel complexion.. "Uh. Why are you wearing the women's uni?" He made a face. "I mean the royal garment of unification." She extended her hand to point at the different design.

"I thought it would be obvious I'm a girl rower," he said offering her a solo cup. Anna raised her hands up for a moment to stop him, but he offered again. "Don't worry, I bought root beer for you. I'm still legally responsible as Captain for 3 more hours." He checked his watch. "Well 2 hours and 26 minutes. _Then_ I'll get you a brewski."

Anna rolled her eyes at his silliness. She was quite happy to stick to root beer. "So, how's the party so far?"

Flynn turned to the crowd. Tarzan was acting like a gorilla on the center coffee table, and Esmeralda danced around with a paper plate, pretending it was a tambourine. A bunch of the other men cheered and hooted, taking large swigs of their beers. The Junior turned his gaze back and smirked. "Pretty chill."

The playful remark made Anna laugh. She continued to look around at the familiar faces. It didn't take long for her to notice that she was actually looking for a specific face. "Are all the upperclassmen here?" she asked, trying to hide a subtle hint of interest in her voice.

"Yup! All but 3. Donald and Mickey have internships. But I assume you were asking more specifically about Elsa." Anna blushed. The Junior boy was more keen than she gave him credit for. "Nah. Trust me, I tried my hardest to get the girl here. She was going to come, at least for a quick showing."

A quick 'showing'? Anna's eyes narrowed and looked at Flynn's embroidered 'A'. It was falling off.. _That's Elsa's uni!_ She looked at his face and makeup again. Only then did she notice his hair was in an elastic. A tiny tuft of hair sticking out toward his shoulder. "Oh my God, you were going as each other weren't you?"

Flynn laughed. "Yeah. I thought it'd be the perfect hook line and sinker to get her here, even for a moment. She doesn't socialize enough."

_That's an understatement.._ Anna chuckled. "What changed her mind?" she asked, sipping her drink as Flynn started leading them into the suite. He clapped a few high fives as they went.

He shrugged. "I was at her place after the race, doing clothing exchange and all and mentioned you were coming." Anna sputtered slightly into her drink, to which Flynn laughed. "Yeah. I thought it'd make her feel more comfortable coming. I guess that backfired."

Anna felt her stomach sink at the information. Why didn't Elsa want to come because of her? She felt guilty that she was the reason Elsa wasn't going to get to enjoy the team's company._ I mean, Mogli and Tink probably gave her enough company to last a lifetime, but still! I wonder why she didn't want to see me._

"Although…" he drawled in a sneaky voice, bringing aqua eyes back to him. "Even though she refused to come, I managed to convince her to take a picture with me. I needed proof of our costumes." He handed his phone to Anna, both to boast his triumphant conquer of the costume as well and implicitly know Anna wanted nothing more than to see said conquest. She did a once over and gasped as a huge smile broke out across her cheeks, the feeling of guilt immediately being replaced with complete glee.

The high school friends stood in a mirror, Flynn snapping the photo and pulling Elsa's reluctant form close to him. He was grinning proudly and even the blonde offered a smile at the silliness. And goodness did they look silly in the switch! In the photo, Elsa's small, women's uni looked even more shrunken and constraining on the tall muscular man. Anna thought it was going to rip at the seams. But Elsa looked even more funny. Flynn's typically fitted uni hung loosely against her lithe frame. The long, hem of the legs reached her knees. Her bangs were tossed over her forehead, much as Flynn's usual style. Anna squinted closer.

"Is that a goatee?"

"Yeah, washable marker." Flynn laughed. "That was the hardest part to wrestle her to agree to!"

_I approve_, was the thought that entered her mind, absolutely loving the photo. It actually had to be her favorite costume photo. Ever. She had to have it. She shot a glance at Flynn and declared without a hint of jest, "You will send this to me."

Flynn had no time to respond as Anna felt a pair of arms loop around her midsection from behind. Next thing she knew, she was spinning in the air before making a landing once again. She was spun to come face to face with the auburn haired… prince?

Anna's eyes fell down her boyfriend's attire. White suite, tall black boots, medals, embroidered floral designs rich with Norwegian history. He was quite dapper looking.

"Anna!" he called excitedly. He leaned in and kissed her cheek before looking down at her costume. "Aw. You are gorgeous. But I was hoping you'd dress like a princess."

"How would she have known to?" Flynn questioned from beside Anna. Anna gave sideways glance, unsure if there was a hint of annoyance in Flynn's voice, regardless of the ending pleasantry. She'd never heard anything like that exchanged between the two best friends.

Hans grinned. "Because we have a mental synchronization. Right babe?"

Anna chuckled awkwardly. "Uh yeah.. Well, I just thought the lumberjack look would be a little more.. uh, easy."

"You're so cute." The older boy cooed as he put his hand around her waist, pulling her close. "Well, it's time for your prince to show off his bodacious lumberjack."

Anna forced a smile and fought the eye roll as the rower tugged her through the throng of people.

'_Bodacious'. Really? I'm a coxswain and like my compliments but, man, even this is overkill!_

…

After being paraded around for the last 2 hours Anna finally managed to (escape) take a break from Hans. She loved talking with everyone, even doing a couple of karaoke renditions of songs ranging from 'Don't Stop Believing' all the way to 'Shawty Got Moves'.

Anna sat down on the only empty couch in the room and put her aching feet up onto the disheveled coffee table. Maybe wearing work boats was a bit much. But oh did it feel nice to relax. Flynn had handed her a filled solo cup the minute the clock struck 12. She took a sip and cringed at the poignant flavor. God it was strong! What the Hell did they mix into this concoction? 2 or 3 of these and she'd surely be down for the count. Barely a minute later, she felt a body plop down at her side as she took a longer swig of the punch.

She turned her eyes to the Chinese Warrior beside her. "Whoah! Mulan, your costume looks so real!" she gushed, unable to stifle herself from reaching out to the armor and sword.

"That's because it is. It's my grandfather's," the Senior quipped. It made Anna quickly withdraw her hand in fear of damaging the antique armor. Mulan laughed. "Don't worry. It's seen rougher days than a college party!" She flexed her arms. "My grandmother, or Match Maker Fa as we called her, would always ask me 'when will your reflection show who you are inside?'. So I sent her a picture today and said 'Today. I am a warrior!'"

The whole spiel made Anna erupt in laughter.

Her dark eyes then gave Anna's costume a once over and smirked. "I like the choice of flannel." There was something playful in her tone, but Anna wasn't sure why. She opted to just smile and nod.

A silence drifted between them as Anna briefly looked at a group, howling with cheers. She smiled sadly watching the many teammates having fun.

"I can tell you look a little down," Anna heard Mulan say, drawing her teal eyes back to black ones. "I may be speculating, but is it because Elsa isn't here?"Anna flinched, cheeks growing hot. "I mean, you're just always more excited when she's around. And you get excited when she texts."

_Why do the Captains have this 6__th__ sense about everything? _

At Anna's creeped out stare Mulan shrugged. "I'm Captain. I'm supposed to be observant of all my rowers and coxswains."

"I suppose.."

"So how's your relationship going?"

Anna blinked, thrown off by the shift of topic. Or was that even _meant _to be a topic change..? _Oh, come on Anna, obviously it is_. "Uh w-with Hans you mean? Good. We're good." The face her Captain made was enough to clarify Anna's internal question.

"You're still dating?"

"Um yes. We are.." Anna said in weak defense, voice laced with suspicion. The Warrior clad woman pondered the statement and then nodded.

"Oh," she settled on, lifting her drink to her lips. Her aura took on an air of nonchalance. "I guess I just see you spending more time with Elsa." Wait. So did that mean her original question _was _supposed to be directed at her relationship with Elsa?

She started feeling an anxiety in her stomach as she processed their conversation's progression. Mulan was being so inquisitive, so presumptuous. Why was she so into Anna's personal life? More specifically, why was she so set on discussing Anna's relationship (well, obviously not relationship but whatever they were) with Elsa? Anna was growing tired of this nagging question chewing away at the back of her mind. Why did Mulan care so much? Was she the girlfriend? Did Mulan date Elsa?

"Did you date Elsa?" she blurted, eyes widening in shock. She clapped her hands over her mouth the instant the words flew out.

Anna knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. She had stifled herself so well with Elsa. It seemed that her inhibition could only suppress so much for so long. _Oh God, she hasn't said anything. Why is she staring at me like that? _Her face was steadily growing hotter and hotter.

The Asian woman's eyes had widened before she broke into a smile and laughed. "Goodness no. I'm going on 7 years in my relationship," she said amidst her laughter. She wiped a tear away and noticed Anna hanging her head and scrunching her shoulders in shame. "Sorry, I shouldn't laugh.."

Anna shook her head, hoping her tomato red face didn't look as bad as it felt. "No no. I shouldn't have even asked a question like that." _Stupid Anna. This is why you never assume things!_

Mulan sensed the teenager's distress. She rested a comforting hand on Anna's shoulder and looked down to her level. Her amusement was still evident, but her smile was soft. Anna had a fleeting feeling of a sisterly kinship with the Senior rower. A comfort. Mulan seemed to read Anna so well and know just what to say. But what Mulan said next threw her for a loop.

"Don't worry. I'm not intruding on your territory."Anna stared at the tall woman blankly, confused, as she was given a wink in response.

"I-I don't.. don't know what you..?"

Seeing the confusion growing on the freckled face, Mulan continued before standing up. "Hey. How about you think about your reflection." She left at that, picking up her red solo cup and returning to group of people.

_My reflection?_ Anna thought as her stare became distant. She thought back to the words Mulan said earlier. _When will my reflection show.. who I am inside? _Frustrated, Anna lifted the plastic cup to her lips before taking another swig of the punch, cringing less this time stood up and headed back over to the punch bowl to refill her empty cup._ I'm too sober to deal with all this cryptic bullshit._

…

It came to beyond the witching hour. It was only a little bit past 12, just boarding at the 2:30 am mark. So maybe it was a little bit later. To the red haired Freshman who'd arrived back at her room over an hour ago though, the sense of time seemed to be alluding her.

Whether the haze of her thoughts was due to the late hour or the inebriated state she was still in, Anna laid in bed, wide eyes trained on the ceiling as she recounted her day. Those words echoing and echoing, never ending. It was a broken record and it wouldn't stop. And it wouldn't stop her thoughts from swirling around and around. The more times it ran through her thoughts, the more and more she broke the meaning down, teasing apart every possible thing Mulan could mean.

And no matter how she processed it, no matter the path she chose, it kept coming back to one meaning.

Anna's territory. Elsa was Anna's territory. Mulan was alluding to Elsa belonging to Anna. And that meant.. she thinks that.. Anna closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose as she drew her absolutely crazy conclusion. _Mulan thinks I like Elsa._

That just couldn't be true. She had a boyfriend. She liked boys. She'd never been into girls. Well, she never thought about it really. In Oslo, she grew up just assuming she was a girl so she'd like boys. Was there actually something else she wasn't seeing? Something about herself? _Reflection. Is that what Mulan was hinting at? No no no.._

A buzz came from her churning stomach and Anna reached for the flip phone. She opened the text message, unaware that she held her breath as she scanned the words.

'_Congratulations on winning our bargain. We begin our training for Spring season tomorrow.'_

Anna held the phone screen in front of her face, the glowing light illuminating the entirety of her dorm room. She gently gnawed on her lower lip as she read the message. She had won their deal. She won Elsa's favor in rowing together, in competing further, in being more intense.

Her favorite message, though, was the one that trailed immediately behind that first one.

'_Additionally, you did nice work today.'_

After the intensity of excitement swelled in her stomach, it soon drained away. Swept away as the churning whirlpool came back as her nerves began eating her up. She really did become so easily excited over Elsa's messages. She did feel her heart swell and feel warmth spread through her. Sure she was an oblivious person. She had the ability to call people out when they were being oblivious, but she could just never figure it out for herself. Never see what was right in front of her. Still, never had she thought she'd be capable of taking home a Gold medal in a 'Most Oblivious' competition. But this was all so new. Everything Mulan described was spot on. Everything.

Could Anna actually..

Did Anna really like..

She squeezed her eyes shut and rolled over in the small box-spring bed, clutching the phone to her chest. She tried to visualize Hans. She tried to imagine any boy in that moment. But the only image she had was of that award winning smile Elsa gave her that morning.

And God, it was more beautiful now than it had ever been before.

**-End Chapter 10-**

**A.N. So here was Chapter 10… all 20 pages of it. I figured an extra long chapter was a good thank you for being so patient. **_**Finally **_**Anna has the idea planted in her head. It's about time! Let's see what she does with this new train of thinking over the coming chapters. Obviously our lovely Anna is smart and makes great, rationale decisions… right?**

**I just **_**HAD**_** to include my other OTP (Rizzoli & Isles) in this chapter. Season 5 came out and I was just too overly excited. So hope some people were able to get the reference. :)**

**Alrighty all. As always, thank you for reading!**


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